Professor Sara Fovargue

School of Law

Professor of Law

Director of Academic Staff Development

Deputy Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee

Sara Fovargue new
Profile picture of Sara Fovargue new
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 & 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).