Over the past month, the Health Law Research Group at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, has been delighted to welcome Teresa Zagra, a visiting PhD researcher from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.
Teresa’s visit has been marked by rich academic exchange, stimulating research dialogue, and a shared commitment to advancing scholarship at the intersection of law, bioethics, and emerging technologies. Her time with us culminated in a thought-provoking presentation on 25 February, where she shared insights from her doctoral research and engaged colleagues in lively discussion.
Reflecting on her experience, Teresa writes:
“Being a Visiting Researcher at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, has been an experience I will carry with me for years to come. It provided me with a valuable opportunity to deepen my understanding of the English legal system and of the main strands of bioethical debate relevant to my research, within a lively, welcoming and intellectually stimulating academic environment.
This period has significantly enriched my doctoral work, particularly from a comparative perspective. Engaging directly with the English context allowed me to appreciate in concrete terms how productive the comparative method can be in restoring, from a supranational standpoint, the rationality of legal discourse. During my time in Sheffield, I also came to realise the value of a genuinely multidisciplinary approach — one that brings together law, bioethics, policy and medicine — when addressing questions that shape the future of the human–technology relationship.
A special thank you to my supervisor, Dr Caterina Milo, for her expertise, generosity and constant support throughout this experience. My conversations with her, as well as with Professor Sara Fovargue, Dr Hannah Hirst, Dr Laura O’Donovan and Professor Naomi Hawkins, were a source of inspiration, prompting new questions and further avenues of research. My heartfelt thanks to Caterina and to the University of Sheffield for such a meaningful experience, one I would strongly encourage other researchers to pursue.”
Teresa’s visit exemplifies the strength of international collaboration and the intellectual generosity that defines our research community. We are profoundly grateful for the energy, insight and collegiality she brought to the Health Law Research Group, and we look forward to seeing her doctoral research continue to flourish.
We wish Teresa every success in the next stages of her academic journey and hope to welcome her back to Sheffield in the future.