Durham Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences Blog

The CELLS Blog offers a multidisciplinary platform for commentary and analysis on a range of subjects and themes related to the ethical, social and regulatory issues raised by the life sciences. We welcome submissions from students, early career researchers, policymakers, academics from all relevant fields, lawyers, healthcare professionals and support services, civil society organisations and anyone with a vested interest in the relevant subject area broadly construed.

To submit a blog post for consideration please note the following guidelines:

Word limit: 500-750 words.

Please provide three to four keywords and an appropriate image with your post if possible.

The title should be short and precise.

Contributions should be written in English and in accessible language that will appeal to readers from different fields of study.

References should be in the form of embedded hyperlinks in-text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes.

The blog is aimed at a multidisciplinary readership at all learning levels and contributions should be widely accessible. Technical language and jargon should be explained or otherwise avoided.

Posts should reflect original work, but we welcome contributions that aim to promote published research papers, ongoing projects and reflective reviews of lectures and events.

Blogs will not be peer-reviewed but will be reviewed by the editorial staff for relevance, originality, timeliness, topic, style and focus.

Blogs under consideration elsewhere or those already published on other platforms will not be considered.

Submit draft blogs as an email attachment to Emma Cave at emma.cave@durham.ac.uk including in the subject line ‘CELLS blog submission: title of blog: author name’. Please note that during busy periods in the academic year, it may take longer to respond.

Latest Blogs from CELLS

Law, Class and Compassion: Vera Drake and the Lived Reality of Illegal Abortion

By Natalia Katolik and Somtochukwu Madumelu. Year three LLB students on the Law and Medicine module

“You Speak and Nobody Hears”: The Racialisation of Pregnancy and Birth in the UK, Eli Ansari and Katherine Maslowski

How do the Courts View Clinical Ethics Committees?

Summary: A review of Westlaw cases referring to clinical ethics committees (CECs) reveals a growing expectation of CEC involvement in disputed and finely balanced cases involving the clinical management of both adults and children.

How the Courts View Clinical Ethical Committees

Mandatory (M)othering: An Exploration of British Surrogates’ Healthcare Experiences

Choice and Consent: Communicative Challenges Faced in Multilingual Antenatal Settings

COVID-19 and Beyond: (Re)centring Consent in Maternity Service Policy Making

This blog is part of a series, celebrating the publication of Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects: Tales of Invisibility. The blogs highlight the contributions and rich analysis offered within the edited collection, as the authors reflect upon their chapters. In this blog Dr Anna Nelson reflects upon what motivated her to write her chapter.

CELLS Event Review: “In/Fertility in the Workplace”

In October 2025 Durham CELLS hosted a research seminar on in/fertility in the workplace. Natalie Sutherland, International Family Law Group LLP Partner and co-founder of the In/Fertility in the City initiative spoke to staff and students. Eesha Karthikeyan reports.

‘I Just Want to be me’

Abstract: This blog is part of a series, celebrating the publication of Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects: Tales of Invisibility. The blogs highlight the contributions and rich analysis offered within the edited collection, as the authors reflect upon their chapters. In this blog Dr Jacqueline Nicholls reflects upon her chapter.

‘It Wasn’t About What I Wanted’ The Consent Experiences of Women Living With Complex Social and Health Circumstances

This blog is part of a series, celebrating the publication of Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects: Tales of Invisibility. The blogs highlight the contributions and rich analysis offered within the edited collection, as the authors reflect upon their chapters. In this blog Rebecca Brione reflects upon her chapter. To celebrate publication of the edited collection we are delighted to share this 20% discount code (25AFLY3), click here to use it!

Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects: Tales of Invisibility

Following the publication of Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects, we are publishing a series of blogs reflecting on this multi-disciplinary collection that interrogates ways in which reproductive subjects are rendered invisible. In this first post the editors consider the project’s origins and the key contributions it makes to understanding why there are so many maternity scandals and how the gap between the rhetoric of consent and its implementation in practice can be closed.

The Need for a Constitutional Solution to the 'Duty to Die' Concern

Benedict Douglas comments on the concern of those opposed to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Life that it will not sufficiently protect people from feeling that they have a 'duty to die'.

Patents & Stem Cell-Based Embryo Models in Europe: The Need for Nuanced Bioethics Scrutiny?

Aisling McMahon comments on the application of European patent law to embryo models