Research
Regulation of Families and Reproduction
A major strand of my work focuses on how the human body has interacted with technologies, socio-cultural contexts and the rule of law. My work has explored how law has sought to grapple with medical, reproductive and genetic innovations, (including mitochondrial replacement therapy, surrogacy and in vitro gametogenesis (IVG)) enabling and constraining their use according to social and legal definitions of parenthood, heteronormative ideals of family, personhood and the proper boundaries of human bodies. I have a longstanding interest in how criminal, medical and family law influences intimate lives and how and why law is seen as a solution to personal dilemmas
Criminal Law and Healthcare
The second strand of her research focuses on socio-legal analyses of the interaction between medicine and the criminal law. She is an international expert on the law relating to gross negligence manslaughter and has worked closely with organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), General Medical Council (GMC), Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and National Police Chiefs Council to empirically examine law and process around grossly negligent medical harms, including those involving vulnerable adults. She has received funding for various projects relating to decision-making in medical manslaughter cases and this work has also been widely cited in various policy consultations .
Drawing on criminal law and feminist legal theory, she has also considered how certain contentious bodily interventions such as cosmetic surgery come to give rise to the medical exception to the criminal law. She has gone on to explore how such treatments should be regulated in England and Wales, and the work has been widely cited within the academic literature as well as policy consultations.