'Future of Human Reproduction' £1M Wellcome Funding

[DarcyBlue]

The 'Future of Human Reproduction', run by Lancaster Uni and U of Sheffield, currently looking for 'visiting collaborators' to their interdisciplinary team (which includes a prof on 18th c poetry - useful! and a few legal people) and offering 'small research grants funding' at the moment. They have received £1m Wellcome funding to 'push academic boundaries' by researching:

1. 'Ectogenesis: The development of fetuses outside the human body;
2. In-Vitro Gametogenesis: new methods of creating eggs and sperm that will allow the creation of children with two same-sex genetic parents, multiple genetic parents, or just one genetic parent; and,
3. Genome editing: enabling a greater degree of control over the genetic makeup of future people.'

Do we have any midwives, mothers, or even mothers who are midwives who may want to apply to be part of their 'visiting collaborators' or indeed for some funding to do something actually useful for mothers and babies with this money?

Perhaps some work on curing female infertility would be better? They don't seem to have managed that yet.

Forgot the link:

wp.lancs.ac.uk/futureofhumanreproduction/

I wonder why mothers and women aren't centred in this 'research'?

I find this really upsetting as I'm usually a big supporter of Wellcome and JF. I'm not sure how this really aligns to their aims anyway?

We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

It's almost as if people cannot comprehend that there is something on this planet men physically cannot do. Plenty of research in regard to female fertility etc that would be welcome.

Although giving the benefit of the doubt it looks like the research is more to explore the issues and ethics around the future of these topics?

You’ve got to wonder what’s in it for the baby in any of those research areas

The Future of Human Reproduction is an innovative, interdisciplinary research programme exploring the cultural, ethical, legal and social challenges that may emerge as technological advances fundamentally change the possibilities for human reproduction.

Funded by a £1M Research Development Award from Wellcome, the programme pushes academic boundaries by developing new methods, research agendas and interdisciplinary ways of working to tackle the conceptual and ethical implications of a range of future reproductive scenarios likely to be technologically possible within a generation.

Thats a quote from the website, not my own words but italics didn't work

There seems to be very little for the baby in any of their research outlined under major themes. I also think the impact on babies with disabilities - particularly learning disabilities - is enormous for their third theme (which currently has no details on their page).

This research isn't about researching how to conduct these though, but the issues around these themes. A stark difference.

Perhaps more research on implications of early trauma (far more common than people assume) and how best to protect human infancy from these preventable stressors. What support do babies and their mothers and other carers need?

But this would mean addressing biggies such as poverty, DV, sex pay gap, maternity discrimination, cost of rent and living. Nobody finds these topics sexy.

If it's research on the ethics of these things, then money well spent! We need to pre-empt developments. Working out the ethics of experimental medical procedures after the fact hasn't gone well has it 😖

Indeed. I feel less outraged now I should know better than just reading a headline and that it's important to read further into it.

Those 'unsexy' topics are exactly the sort of thing this initiative is looking to address though. To have formal funding for this is great and quite rare truth be told.

I don’t think we need to worry about sci-fi research becoming real if the project involves poetry.

Sounds a bit eugenicsy, mind you.

Meanwhile if you actually read what the funding was for you would see why these people would add value. They aren't researching how to conduct these things!

Previous ethics research projects have resulted in papers like this:

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11017-022-09599-8

So forgive me for not sharing your optimism!

Yet when they branch out and ask for input from a variety of people, people sneer.

It’s more ‘fear the potential for horror’ than ‘sneer’.

reduxx.info/medical-journal-floats-concept-of-using-braindead-women-as-surrogates-through-whole-body-gestational-donation/

Well, it could be interesting and worthwhile. There are MASSIVE legal and ethical issues raised by potential developments in science that really do need raised, thought through, argued, and considered.

It all depends on ethics and integrity of those carrying out the research; whether they are willing to do real research and be open to different outcomes, or whether they are going to apply their own desired ideologies to the research to produce self justifying narratives.

Just imagine what that million could do if they devoted it to "How to stop the harm and death happening to mothers and babies under NHS care in the 21st century" ?

I know that doesn't pander to the whims of delusionists and fetishists, but it would do a lot of human good for women and babies and thus society in general.

Wellcome has been Stonewall-washed so it would be great if some gender critical women got involved with this. But I think they might find themselves having some ethical conflicts. I can only hope Wellcome is open enough still to have those debates.

They are being criticised on Twitter this eve for recruiting for a Chief ED&I Officer with a salary of over £200k too.

I might start pushing the Stonewall line in return for £200k a year, I have to say!

Ooh look, its Frankenstein/Eugenics funding!

I despair at the utter lack of capacity to give the faintest fuck for the child being created.