Irish Research Council Doctoral Scholar Alanna Kells’s poster was awarded‘highly commended’ in the PhD Poster competition at the annual Socio-Legal Studies Annual Conference held at Ulster University in Derry-Londonderry from 4-6 April 2023.
Alanna’s poster considered the legal and ethical implications of the use of ectogenesis (the growth of a fetus outside of the body in an artificial womb) to increase future populations in space exploration. The poster outlines a range of legal and ethical issues posed in this context, including highlighting issues around the human rights implications, citizenship rights of any child born, the potential for commodification, and consent and best interests considerations of the child born via ectogenesis in this context.
Alanna Kells is a Doctoral Scholar in Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology. Her PhD research focuses on the human rights implications of human ectogenesis. Alanna is supervised by Professor Aisling McMahon.
The research conducted in Alanna’s poster was funded by the Irish Research Council.
