Assisted reproduction and new family formation

Associate Professor Rhonda Shaw (Sociology) is currently involved in three research projects on assisted human reproduction in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rhonda is a Principal Investigator on the ‘Accessing Assisted Reproduction: Social Infertility and Family Formation’ (2019 – 2024) project. The study, supported by a Marsden-fund grant of $816,000, explores the experiences of people who are denied or encounter difficulties accessing assisted reproductive technologies. It examines how these individuals create families in the context of globalised reproduction, and how they negotiate and manage their relationships with providers of reproductive materials and services in the process of family building. The aim of the study is to formulate new ways of theorising kinship and family life that will promote wider acceptance of new forms of family.

The second study, ‘Expert views of Assisted Reproduction’, involves qualitative research with experts based in Australia and New Zealand (academics, policy makers, lawyers, consumer groups, fertility clinic specialists, counsellors, and healthcare professionals) about their involvement with fertility treatment and their views on a range of reproductive technologies.

The third study on 'Reproductive Futures' examines the online and in-person views of young people about their decision-making and experiences of fertility preservation.