The Future of Human Reproduction
An innovative, interdisciplinary research programme, funded by Wellcome, exploring the cultural, ethical, legal and social challenges that will emerge as technological advances fundamentally change the possibilities for human reproduction.
Our Vision
To push academic boundaries by developing new methods, research agendas and interdisciplinary ways of working to tackle the conceptual and ethical implications of a range of future reproductive scenarios likely to be technologically possible within a generation.
Major Research Themes
The complete or partial gestation of a fetus outside of the human body, in an artificial womb environment, creating children who have not been ‘born’ in the usual sense of the term.
The creation of embryos from artificial eggs and sperm opening up the possibility of same-sex, multiplex (multi-person) or singular genetic parenting.
A type of genetic engineering that enables changes to the DNA of organisms. This could lead to future children being ‘chosen’ or ‘designed’ with far greater levels of prevision than at present.
Our Team
We are a team of academics and researchers from six different humanities and social sciences disciplines: design, English literature, law, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology.
Featured Posts
The development of human stem cell based embryo models is progressing at pace, but what are these models, why are scientists creating them, and are they a cause for concern? Read our explainer to find out more.
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Our blog, in response to the HFEA’s announcement that it is proposing changes to the law on the regulation of human embryo research, explores the origins of the 14-day rule and considers the arguments for and against extending the current limit.
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National Fertility Awareness Week highlighted the challenges that 1 in 6 people in the UK face when trying to have children. This blog focuses on uterus transplantation: a novel method of human reproduction.
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The Future of Human Reproduction team exhibited at this year’s ESRC Festival of Social Science. We delivered a range of activities exploring future reproductive technologies.
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