Dr Zaina Mahmoud BA, LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD

Research Overview

As a socio-legal scholar, Zaina takes an empirical approach to enhancing the legal analytical component of her research. Her comparative socio-legal PhD created and sustained a culture and environment that promotes the autonomy, health, and wellbeing of surrogates, by developing an alternative legal framework of surrogacy regulation, informed by an examination of surrogates’ lived experiences in Britain and California. The findings from her thesis, as well as other publications and projects with others, were cited in the Law Commission of England and Wales and Scottish Law Commissions’ joint final report 'Building Families through Surrogacy: A New Law' (Law Com No 411; Scot Law Com No 262), and was cited by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 'Surrogacy law in the UK: ethical considerations – Briefing Note'.

Zaina is a co-investigator on Children’s Voices in Surrogacy Law (principal investigator: Dr. Katherine Wade, University of Bristol; co-investigator: Professor Kirsty Horsey, University of Kent), a project that collects and analyses children’s views on surrogacy law reform (Institute of Medical Ethics (£9,937.60) and a Research England grant (£12,000)). Phase One of the project involved children and young people aged 8-17 born through surrogacy, as well as the children of surrogates. Phase Two of the project involved children and young people from primary and secondary schools with no experience of surrogacy aged 8-18, to be able to compare their views to the views shared in Phase One. In September 2022, Phase One was presented to two law reform bodies, the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission; the findings from this project were cited in the Law Commission of England and Wales and Scottish Law Commissions’ joint final report Building families through surrogacy: a new law (Law Com No 411; Scot Law Com No 262) and by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics relating to the views of children in Surrogacy law in the UK: ethical considerations – Briefing Note.