Professor Sara Fovargue

School of Law

Professor of Law

Director of Academic Staff Development

Deputy Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee

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s.j.fovargue@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6794

Full contact details

Professor Sara Fovargue
School of Law
AF24
Bartolomé House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

I joined the School of Law at the University of Sheffield in January 2022, having previously been Professor of Law at Lancaster University. I have also taught at the Universities of Manchester and Newcastle.

I was the first in my family to attend university. Having wanted to be a barrister (specialising in medical malpractice) since I was about 14, I realised while I was studying at the Inns of Court School of Law that a career at the Bar was not for me. I completed the academic stage to qualify as a barrister and then opted to start work on my PhD rather than to complete a pupillage.

I have been teaching and researching issues relating to health law and ethics, and family law (particularly relating to children) for over 20 years and I am passionate about these subjects. I have also taught Criminal Law, English Legal Systems/Legal Methods, and Gender and the Law.

Qualifications
  • Non-practising barrister
  • PhD, University of Manchester
  • LLB(Hons) Law, University of Leicester
Research interests

Health care law and ethics generally - specifically:

  • Consent and Capacity
  • Decision Making for the 'Vulnerable'
  • Risk and Regulation
  • Clinical Research Involving Human and Non-human Animals
  • Developing and Emerging Biotechnologies (such as xenotransplantation)
  • Reproduction and Reproductive Technologies
  • Organ Donation and Transplantation
  • Conscientious Objection

Family law:

  • Parents, Parenthood and Reproductive Technologies
  • Children and Health
  • Children and Childhood
Publications

Books

Edited books

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Fovargue S, Redhead C, Anna C, Draper H & Frith L (2024) Relationships were a casualty when pandemic ethics and everyday clinical ethics collided In Redhead C & Smallman M (Ed.), Governance, Democracy and Ethics in Crisis-Decision-making The Pandemic and Beyond Manchester: Manchester University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Purshouse C (2023) Introduction In Fovargue S & Purshouse C (Ed.), Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 1-8). London: Routledge. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Purshouse C (2023) Introduction, Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 1-8). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2019) Preserving the therapeutic alliance: Court intervention and experimental treatment requests In Goold I, Herring J & Auckland C (Ed.), Parental Rights, Best Interests and Significant Harms: Medical Decision-Making on Behalf of Children Post-Great Ormond Street Hospital v Gard (pp. 153-176). Oxford: Hart. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2017) Xenotransplantation In den Exter A (Ed.), European Health Law (pp. 419-441). Maklu-Uitgevers RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2017) Ethical Judgment on St George's Healthcare NHS Trust v S [1998] 3 All ER 673 In Smith S, Coggon J, Hobson C, Huxtable R, McGuinness S, Miola J & Neal M (Ed.), Ethical Judgments: Re-writing Medical Law (pp. 235-240). Oxford: Hart. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2017) Judgment 2-St George's Healthcare NHS Trust v S [1999] Fam 26, ETHICAL JUDGMENTS: RE-WRITING MEDICAL LAW (pp. 235-240). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Mullock A (2016) Introduction, The Legitimacy of Medical Treatment: What Role for the Medical Exception? (pp. 1-11). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2016) Are we still ‘policing pregnancy’?, Pioneering Healthcare Law: Essays in Honour of Margaret Brazier (pp. 243-254). View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Brazier M & Fovargue S (2016) Transforming wrong into right : What is 'proper medical treatment'? (pp. 12-31). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Mullock A (2015) Introduction In Fovargue S & Mullock A (Ed.), The Legitimacy of Medical Treatment: What Role for the Medical Exception? (pp. 1-11). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2014) Exposing the limits of the law? Biotechnological challenges to global health In Freeman M, Sarah H & Belinda Bennett (Ed.), Law and Global Health (pp. 394-418). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2012) Bioethical conflict and developing biotechnologies: is protecting individual and public health from the risks of xenotransplantation a matter for the (criminal) law?, Bioethics, Medicine and the Criminal Law (pp. 140-156). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S (2011) La investigación embrionaria humana en Reino Unido: ¿una isla en Europa? In Garcia San Jose D (Ed.), Marco Jurídico Eurpeo Relativo a la Investigación Biomédica en Transferencia Nuclear y Reprogramación Celular (pp. 157-176). Thomson Reuters RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S () Integrating feminisms' perspectives into the legal curriculum, Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 148-163). Taylor & Francis RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Purshouse C () Introduction, Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 1-8). Taylor & Francis RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S () Integrating feminisms’ perspectives into the legal curriculum: Feminist Perspectives on Health Care Law In Fovargue S & Purshouse C (Ed.), Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics Routledge RIS download Bibtex download

Reports

  • Fovargue S & Neal M (2021) Pharmacists' perception of ethical conflict and professional guidance in light of the revised General Pharmaceutical Council Standards of Conduct, Ethics and Performance View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fovargue S & Neal M (2021) Research Briefing: Pharmacists' perceptions of ethical conflict and professional guidance View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Research group

I would be happy to supervise students in the following subjects:

  • Health Law and Ethics
  • Family Law - especially relating to children and health.
Grants

Title/Description: The Future of Human Reproduction: New Agendas and Methods for the Humanities and Social Science

  • Awarding Body: Wellcome
  • People Involved: Professor Stephen Wilkinson (PI, Lancaster University); Dr Kirsty Dunn (CI, Lancaster University); Professor Sharon Rushton (CI, Lancaster University); Professor Elena Semino (CI, Lancaster University); Dr Emmanuel Tsekleves (CI, Lancaster University); Dr Nicola Williams (CI, Lancaster University)
  • Years Funded for: May 2022-August 2025
  • Amount Awarded (£): 1,019,767

Title/Description: When pandemic and everyday ethics collide: Supporting ethical decision-making in maternity care and paediatrics during the Covid-19 pandemic

  • Awarding Body: UKRI/AHRC Covid-19 Rapid Response funding
  • People Involved: Dr Lucy Frith (PI, University of Manchester); Dr Paul Baines (CI, University of Warwick); Dr Anna Chiumento (CI, University of Liverpool); Professor Heather Draper (CI, University of Warwick)
  • Years Funded for: 2020-2021
  • Amount Awarded (£): 258,812

Title/Description: Uterus transplantation: Law, ethics, patients and policy

  • Awarding Body: ESRC IAA
  • People Involved: Professor Stephen Wilkinson (Lancaster University); Dr Laura O'Donovan (Lancaster University); Dr Nicola Williams (Lancaster University)
  • Years Funded for: 2021
  • Amount Awarded (£): 14,180
Teaching interests
  • Health Care Law and Ethics
  • Family Law (especially relating to children)
Teaching activities

The modules I teach are:

Undergraduate 

  • Children and the Law
  • Family Law
  • Principles of Healthcare Law and Ethics

Postgraduate 

  • PhD Legal Research Methods
Professional activities and memberships
  • Joint Editor-in-Chief, Medical Law Review.
  • Member of the AHRC Peer Review College.
  • Member of the SLS EDI Committee.
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
  • External ethics adviser on Children Palliative Care Outcome Scale (C-POS), funded by European Research Council.
  • Member the Children’s Health Ethics and Law Special Interest Group (CHELSIG).