Dr David Doyle has received an Irish Research Council New Foundations award for a project entitled On the Brink: The Legal and Cultural Implications of Extinction and De-Extinction. This collaborative project (with Dr Shane McCorristine, Newcastle University, Dr Aisling McMahon, Maynooth University and An Taisce) will develop knowledge about the legal and cultural implications of the extinction and de-extinction of non-human species in the twenty-first century. This is a time when both endangered and long-extinct species have developed an unclear ontological status in environmental discourses. In other words, many species today are ‘on the brink’ of loss (extinction) and return (de-extinction; rewilding). The topic of mass extinction is traditionally addressed by natural scientists, but because it is anthropogenic it demands an extensive interdisciplinary social scientific reading. By addressing the legal and cultural framings of de-extinction, this project will inform the production of laws/regulations/policies to address some of the key issues facing societies impacted by species loss and potential return.
This project builds on previous research that is soon to be published:
Allen, J., Doyle, D.M., McCorristine, S and McMahon, A. (2020), ‘De-Extinction, Regulation and Nature Conservation’, Journal of Environmental Law, 28(2).
McMahon, A. and Doyle, D.M. (2020), ‘Patentability and De-extinct Animals in Europe: The Patented Woolly Mammoth?’, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, DOI: 10.1093/jib/lsaa017.