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Research

Current/Ongoing Externally Funded Research Projects:

2023-4: Law, Loss, and Companion Species’, Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship Scheme (September 2023 – August 2024, £40.9k)

2023-4: (with Sarah Singh) 'Legal Governance of Dog Rescues: Framing Regulation for Northern Ireland' University of Liverpool Impact Acceleration Fund (ESRC Pump-priming strand; Aug 2023 - Sept 2024, £16, 969k in collaboration with Causeway Coast Dog Rescue.)

2022-3: (with Sarah Singh) ‘Legal Governance of Dog Rescues: Addressing Post-Pandemic Challenges in a Period of Austerity’, Funded by Research England (Jan-July 2023, £20,919k). This project addresses the case for legal regulation of dog rescues across the devolved jurisdictions of the UK, in collaboration with A-law, Battersea Dogs & Cat Home and the Kennel Club.

2022-3: 'Compassion in the Work Place: Addressing Pet Loss', Funded by Socio-legal Studies Association Impact Grant Scheme £1,410 and University of Liverpool, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Flexible Faculty Fund for Impact £2750 (2022-23). This is a project under the auspices of the Pet Loss Network, which aims to raise awareness and share good practice within the field of pet bereavement and loss - https://petlossnetwork.org and in collaboration with the Blue Cross.

2021-4: CI (with Frith PI, Manchester and an inter-disciplinary team from Birmingham, De Montfort, and Warwick) ‘Direct-to-consumer genetic testing and donor-conception: support and governance in emerging digital systems’ (three year ESRC Standard Grant £766,670 April 2021- March 2024). The project explores novel questions about technological developments in genetic testing and how they can be regulated, with a particular focus on the potential of these technologies to shape the lived experience of donor conception.

2018: PI (with Ray, Lincoln): ‘He means the world to me’: Human rights implications of separating older people from their pets in residential care/nursing homes.’ Dunhill Medical Trust £77,000 RPGF1711\7 (May 2018-September 2021).

2018: CI (with Frith, Liverpool (PI) and Hudson, DMU) ‘Global Perspectives on Governing Assisted Reproductive Technologies’. Wellcome Trust. £29,687 211011/Z/18/Z December 2018 – October 2021.

(For detail see - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/law/research/health-law-and-regulation-unit/research-projects/)

Research Interests

Marie’s research is concerned with the legal governance of human and animal bodies, legal conceptions of embodiment and regulation of reproduction. Current projects focus on how grief and loss shape our relationships with animals and their legal status, and legal regulation of dog rescues. Other recent projects have explored the place of companion animals in care homes, abortion travel and abortion law reform in Northern Ireland, governance of donor conception and assisted reproductive technologies, and legal regulation of genital cutting. These studies have been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, ESRC, Dunhill Medical Trust, Wellcome Trust and Socio-legal Studies Association.

Research grants

Law, Loss and Companion Species

LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)

September 2023 - May 2025

'He means the world to me'. Human rights implications of separating older people from their pets in residential care/nursing homes

DUNHILL MEDICAL TRUST (UK)

November 2018 - October 2021