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
AF24, Bartolomé House

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

  • Fovargue S (2011) . Cambridge University Press.

Edited books

  • (Ed.) () . Routledge.
  • Fovargue S & Mullock A (Ed.) () . Routledge.

Journal articles

  • Fovargue S, Miola J, Clough B, Heywood R, Devaney S, Mullock A & Romanis EC (2025) . Medical Law Review, 33(3).
  • Fovargue S, O'Donovan L, Wilkinson S & Williams NJ (2025) . Human Fertility, 28(1).
  • Redhead C, Frith L, Chiumento A, Fovargue S & Draper H (2024) . BMC Medical Ethics, 25.
  • Chiumento A, Fovargue S, Redhead C, Draper H & Frith L (2024) . Social Science and Medicine, 344.
  • Thom R, Ayres D, Cooper D, Dark J, Fovargue S, Fox M, Gusmano M, Locke J, McGregor C, Parent B , Ravanan R et al (2024) . Journal of Medical Ethics, 50(9), 585-591.
  • Scott HM, Braybrook D, Harðardóttir D, Ellis-Smith C, Harding R, Anderson AK, Bayly J, Bate L, Bluebond-Langner M, Box D , Bristowe K et al (2023) . Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 21(1).
  • Redhead C, Fovargue S, Frith L, Chiumento A, Draper H & Baines P (2023) . Medical Law Review, 31(1), 83-108.
  • Fovargue S & Neal M (2022) . International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 30(3), 241-246.
  • Fovargue S (2021) In whose best interests? Childbirth choices and other health decisions. Law Quarterly Review, 137, 604-629.
  • Frith L, Draper H, Fovargue S, Baines P, Redhead C & Chiumento A (2021) . American Journal of Bioethics, 21(8), 34-37.
  • Chiumento A, Baines P, Redhead C, Fovargue S, Draper H & Frith L (2021) . BMJ Open, 11(6).
  • Baines P, Draper H, Chiumento A, Fovargue S & Frith L (2020) . Journal of Medical Ethics, 46(11), 715-716.
  • Fovargue S (2020) . Medical Law Review, 28(4), 781-793.
  • Neal M, Fovargue S & Smith SW (2019) . New Bioethics, 25(3), 203-206.
  • Neal M & Fovargue S (2019) . New Bioethics, 25(3), 221-235.
  • Fovargue S & Hogg LC (2017) . Journal of Trafficking and Human Exploitation, 1(2), 143-160.
  • Neal M & Fovargue S (2016) . Medical Law Review, 24(4), 544-570.
  • Fovargue S & Bennett R (2016) . Medical Law Review, 24(1), 34-58.
  • Fovargue S & Neal M (2015) . Medical Law Review, 23(2), 221-241.
  • Fovargue S, McGuinness S, Mullock A & Smith S (2015) . Medical Law Review, 23(2), 173-176.
  • Fovargue S & Ost S (2013) . Medical Law International, 13(1), 6-31.
  • Fovargue S (2013) Doctrinal incoherence or practical problem? Minor parents consenting to their offspring's medical treatment and involvement in research in England and Wales. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 25(1), 1-18.
  • Fovargue S (2013) . Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 22(2), 181-191.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2011) . Clinical Ethics, 6(4), 162-166.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2011) . Clinical Ethics, 6(3), 117-121.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2011) . Clinical Ethics, 6(2), 64-67.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2011) . Clinical Ethics, 6(1), 11-14.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Clinical Ethics, 5(4), 180-183.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Clinical Ethics, 5(3), 122-124.
  • Fovargue S & Ost S (2010) . Medical Law Review, 18(3), 302-329.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Journal of Medical Ethics, 36(8), 494-497.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Clinical Ethics, 5(2), 63-66.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Clinical Ethics, 5(1), 13-15.
  • Fovargue S & Ost S (2009) . Clinical Ethics, 4(3), 119-124.
  • òݸon AJ (2009) . Clinical Ethics, 4(1), 6-11.
  • Fovargue S (2007) . Clinical Ethics, 2(2), 55-55.
  • Fovargue S (2007) . Medical Law Review, 15(2), 176-219.
  • Fovargue S (2006) . Legal Studies, 25(3), 404-429.
  • Fovargue S (2006) . Clinical Ethics, 1(3), 138-138.
  • Brazier M & Fovargue S (2006) . Clinical Ethics, 1(1), 26-32.
  • Fovargue S (2005) . Liverpool Law Review, 26(2), 125-147.
  • Flynn M, Keywood K & Fovargue S (2003) . The Journal of Adult Protection, 5(1), 30-34.
  • Fovargue S (1998) . Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 20(4), 427-437.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (1998) . Medical Law Review, 6(3), 265-296.
  • Fovargue S, Goodwin D, Clarry L & Williams G () . Contemporary Social Science.

Book chapters

  • Redhead C, Chiumento A, Fovargue S, Draper H & Frith L (2024) , Governance, democracy and ethics in crisis-decision-making Manchester University Press
  • Fovargue S (2023) In Fovargue S & Purshouse C (Ed.), Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 148-163). Routledge
  • Fovargue S & Purshouse C (2023) In Fovargue S & Purshouse C (Ed.), Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics (pp. 1-8). London: Routledge.
  • 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.
  • Fovargue S (2017) Xenotransplantation In den Exter A (Ed.), European Health Law (pp. 419-441). Maklu-Uitgevers
  • 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.
  • Brazier M & Fovargue S (2016) , Legitimacy of Medical Treatment What Role for the Medical Exception (pp. 12-31).
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2015) In Stanton C, Devaney S, Farrell A-M & Mullock A (Ed.), Pioneering Healthcare Law : Essays in Honour of Margaret Brazier (pp. 243-254). Abingdon: Routledge (Taylor & Francis).
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Fovargue S (2012) , Bioethics, Medicine and the Criminal Law (pp. 140-156). Cambridge University Press
  • 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
  • Fovargue S & Mullock A () Family Law and Parental Responsibility In Baron T (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and the Family Routledge

Book reviews

  • Fovargue S (2013) . European Journal of Health Law, 20(2), 231-239.
  • Fovargue S (2008) . Medical Law Review, 16(3), 458-464.
  • Fovargue S (2005) . Medical Law Review, 13(1), 131-135.
  • Fovargue S (2002) . The Modern Law Review, 65(2), 290-303.
  • Fovargue S (2001) . Res Publica, 7(2), 183-187.
  • Fovargue S () . Medical Law Review, 14(3), 434-442.

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
  • Fovargue S & Neal M (2021) Research briefing : Pharmacists' perceptions of ethical conflict and professional guidance

Other

  • Fovargue S, O'Donovan L, Wilkinson S, Williams N & Svenning Berg R (2025) Policy Briefing - In vitro gametogenesis Ethical and policy questions.
  • Devaney S, Mullock A, Romanis EC, Fovargue S, Miola J, Clough B & Heywood R (2025) . Medical Law International, 25(2), 79-87.
  • Clough B, Fovargue S, Heywood R & Miola J (2024) . Medical Law Review, 32(4), 441-443.
  • Clough B, Fovargue S, Heywood R & Miola J (2022) . Medical Law Review, 30(4), 581-583.
  • Fovargue S, Miola J, Clough B & Heywood R (2021) . Medical Law Review, 29(1), 1-2.
  • Biggs H, Ost S, Fovargue S & Miola J (2012) . Medical Law Review, 20(2), 189-190.
  • Biggs H, Ost S, Fovargue S & Miola J (2012) . Medical Law Review, 20(1), 6-7.
  • Fovargue S & Miola J (2010) . Clinical Ethics, 5(1), 1-2.
  • Fovargue S (2007) . Clinical Ethics, 2(1), 22-22.
  • Fovargue S (2006) . Clinical Ethics, 1(2), 85-85.
  • Fovargue S & Brazier M (2006) . Clinical Ethics, 1(1), 21-21.
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).

Links