Cathy Herbrand is a Professor of Medical and Family Sociology and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Reproduction Research. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Université libre de Bruxelles which was funded by the Belgian Scientific Research Funds (FNRS). As a FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Social Science, Health and Medicine Department at King’s College London and at the BIOS Research Centre at London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Ottawa.
Cathy is an appointed member of the Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics (2014-2023) and currently co-chairs the subcommittee to produce policy and ethics recommendations on surrogacy regulation in Belgium (advisory report expected to be published in June 2023). Previously, she contributed to the advisory reports on: non-invasive prenatal testing (report n°66 – 9 May 2016); male circumcision (report n°70 – 8 May 2017); sex chromosomal aneuploidies (report n°76 – 30 April 2021).
Her research interests lie in the sociological and anthropological study of new family forms, biotechnologies and genetics, with a particular focus on reproductive decision-making, multi-parenthood and gender issues. She is especially interested in exploring the interactions between new parental forms and reproductive practices and their legal regulation. Her publications appear in Bioethics, Sociology of Health and Illness, BioSocieties, Anthropology and Medicine, Journal of Medical Law and Ethics, etc. (see Publications).
Cathy has recently been awarded a large-scale ESRC Research Grant (£595K) to conduct a collaborative and interdisciplinary study on the implications of new preconception reproductive genomic testing in the UK (Feb 2023 – Jan 2026) in partnership with the Progress Educational Trust. Informed by scholarship in medical sociology with insights from science and technology studies, bioethics and political economy, this project investigates the emergence of expanded carrier screening for preconception use amongst the general population, and its social, ethical, economic and policy implications.
Cathy has also undertaken research on reproductive choices in the context of mitochondrial disorders. The aim of the research was to gain a better understanding of the interactions between scientific progress, policies and people’s lives, through the analysis of the debates surrounding mitochondrial replacement techniques under development in the UK and their impacts on families affected by mitochondrial disorders.
Cathy has previously been involved in several international and interdisciplinary collaborative research projects on cross-border surrogacy, egg donation for research and same-sex adoption, including as a co-investigator on the EDNA project: ‘Egg donation in the UK, Belgium and Spain: an interdisciplinary study, ESRC Research Grant, led by N. Hudson N. (March 2017 – Aug 2021).
Her previous work explored multi-parenthood through the study of practices and laws around gay and lesbian families in Belgium. Her publications include papers and book chapters on the legal recognition of gay and lesbian parenthood, information-sharing in gamete donation and the comparison of assisted conception laws in Belgium, Quebec and the UK.
Clinical Articles
