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Reproductive Science & Society Group
- Professor Joyce Harper
- Joyce Harper is an author, academic, scientist and educator. She is Professor of Reproductive Science and Head of the Reproductive Science and Society Group. She is a Director of the Embryology and PGD Academy which delivers an online certificate in clinical embryology and founder of Global Women Connected (www.globalwomenconnected.com). Joyce is researching into fertility and reproductive health education, FemTech, IVF add-ons, gamete donation and the menopause. She is founder of Reproductive Health at Work, helping companies ensure that the reproductive health needs of their staff are catered for, co-founder of the UK Fertility Education Initiative and founder of the International Fertility Education Initiative. Her latest book, Your Fertile Years, What you need to know to make informed choices, has been published by JOHN MURRAY PRESS, SHELDON PRESS. She regularly appears in the media. Further information – Professor Joyce Harper. Follow on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok and Linkedin - @ProfJoyceHarper
- Professor Judith Stephenson
- Judith Stephenson is the Margaret Pyke Professor of Sexual & Reproductive Health at UCL, and Honorary Consultant in Sexual & Reproductive Health at CNWL and Honorary Consultant in Women’s Health at UCLH.
After training in clinical medicine at the University of Oxford and UCL Medical School and junior hospital doctor posts in London, she studied epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. For the past 30 years she has held academic posts at UCL, first in HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease Epidemiology, and, since 2005, in Women’s Reproductive Health.
Judith’s research has changed policy and practice nationally and internationally, e.g. in relation to chlamydia screening and preconception health. Her current research spans prevention of pregnancy, planning and preparation for pregnancy and how the preconception period influences mother and child health across the life course.
She received the UCL prize for Leadership in Public Engagement in 2012, an NIHR Senior Investigator Awards in 2014, renewed in 2019 and the Women of Achievement in Healthcare Award from Women in the City, 2015.
- Dr Suzy Buckley
- Suzy Buckley joined UCL in 2006, became a Lecturer in 2013 and an Associate Professor in 2021. She is interested in the experiences of parents using donor conception as well as societal attitudes to these families. Suzy has established collaborations with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Donor Conception Network (DCN). She is currently working on a project exploring the experiences and support networks of solo mothers; defined as those who have made an active decision to embark on parenting alone and have usually used donor sperm to conceive at least one of their children.
- Dr Zeynep Gurtin
- Zeynep is a sociologist of reproduction interested in the social, ethical, and relational issues surrounding fertility, infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and new family forms. Her work brings together analyses of social trends with women's personal accounts of their expectations, experiences, and pathways to motherhood. Zeynep's current research projects focus on: motherhood after 40; experiences of patients whose fertility treatment was disrupted due to Covid-19 (in collaboration with the Reproductive Medicine Unit, UCLH); an analysis of 10 years of elective egg freezing with Professor Marcia Inhorn (Yale University); and reproductive anxiety and choices with Dr Charlotte Faircloth (UCL). Zeynep is part of the Changing Infertilities network convened by ReproSoc, University of Cambridge, and was appointed as a Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in 2022. She also writes occasional opinion columns for The Guardian and runs her own Fertility Consultancy, helping individuals and families map out their reproductive options.
- Dr Vasanti Jadva
- Vasanti is a Developmental Psychologist. Her research examines the psychological well-being of parents and children in families created by in vitro fertilisation, egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy. She has also studied the experiences of surrogates and gamete donors. Dr Jadva is a co-investigator on a Wellcome Trust funded project based at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge. The study aims to increase understanding of new family arrangements involving non-cohabiting co-parents, transgender parents, elective single fathers, and identifiable egg donors. She is also currently working on a number of collaborative studies with colleagues in Denmark, Israel and India.
- Dr Jacqueline Nicholls
- Jacqueline is a lawyer, clinician, and academic with a professional background of working in the NHS, industry, private legal practice and academia. She has an academic background in applied psychology and ergonomics/human factors and more than 20 years experience of multiprofessional undergraduate and post-graduate education. Her work brings together legal, clinical and applied psychological perspectives with particular emphasis on reproductive justice, information giving, autonomy and consent.
Current research projects focus on: women's lived experiences of consent in relation to a range of decisions (e.g. episiotomy, induction, caesarean section); healthcare professionals' experiences of patient consent in the light of evolving law: consent experiences of ethnic minority women; challenges of the labour ward; obstetric violence. Jacqueline is a co-investigator on a NIHR funded project led by Professor Dimitris Siassakos, involving a large UK-wide collaboration, aimed at investigating which rotational technique is associated with better maternal and neonatal outcome and reduces perinatal injury. Other collaborators include a number of law firms and charities, particularly Birthrights. Additional interests include: assessment of mental capacity and best-interests decision-making for disadvantaged women.
- Dr Katherine Maslowski
- Katherine is a New Zealand-trained doctor. She recently completed an MSc in Women's Health at the UCL Institute for Women's Health which cultivated an interest in sexual and reproductive health education for both young people and adults. Katherine is currently working on research with secondary schools in the UK with a goal to improve sex and reproductive health education across the country.
- Rina Biswakarma
- Rina is a PhD student within the Institute for Education researching Fertility Education amongst men and teenagers. Rina has a BSc in Biomedical Science and MRes in Reproductive Science and Women’s Health from the Institute for Women's Health, UCL. Rina mentors and assists students on their MRes and MSc research projects. She has contributed to numerous research projects on Period Tracker apps, Menopause, Fertility Education and the RSE curriculum.
