Educational background and work history
My primary academic interests are in the social, psychological and bioethical questions surrounding the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and particularly in the ways in which they impact gender relations, family relationships, embodiment and bodily experiences. I am particularly interested in the empirical study and ethical analysis of gamete donation, cross-border reproductive care (CBRC), and ARTs in developing countries.
My PhD thesis looks at the cultural constructions of IVF in Turkey, examining both the public practices (such as regulatory structures, commercial arrangements and media discourses) that shape the ways in which this technology is offered and the private experiences of men and women undergoing it. This was a mixed methods project, incorporating clinical ethnographies, interviews and archive analysis, funded by the ESRC.
Prior to that, I studied for a BA (Hons) in Social and Political Sciences, and an MPhil in Modern Societies and Global Transformations from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from The Central School of Speech and Drama.
Current research
I have just finished a 2-year research project with Prof. Susan Golombok, in collaboration with the London Women’s Clinic. The study, entitled ‘Egg-sharing: Experiences and Ethics’, examines egg-share donors’ and recipients’ experiences, opinions and retrospective assessments of the scheme, seeking to provide ethical evaluations and policy recommendations grounded in rigorous empirical data. Articles from the study will be published during 2012. We have also contributed directly to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) recent donation review.
Our next project together, beginning Autumn 2012, will investigate the decision-making processes and experiences of British women and their partners who seek egg donation, both in the UK and overseas.
Recently, I co-edited with Marcia Inhorn the first multi-disciplinary special issue on Cross Border Reproductive Care (CBRC). This issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online (Vol. 23, No. 5, November 2011) explores the legal, ethical and social questions surrounding the rapidly growing phenomena of “reproductive tourism”, in sixteen articles by leading scholars from law, anthropology, sociology, psychology and counseling, ethics, and clinical medicine.
I am working with colleagues at the Centre for Family Research on the Wellcome Trust Enhancement Award in Biomedical Ethics.
Other activities
I lecture for various departments and faculties within the University of Cambridge, including on Bioethics and Assisted Reproduction for the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, on Patient Perspectives on Assisted Reproduction for the Department of Physiology, and on Gender, Globalization and Reproduction for the Centre for Gender Studies.
I am Founder and Co-Convener of the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Reproduction Forum (CIRF), a research group based at CRASSH (Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge) which promotes interdisciplinary exchange between scholars working on reproduction. For details see here.
Recent Publications
Gürtin, Z.B. (2012) Evaluating egg-sharing: The experiences, attitudes and opinions of egg-share donors and recipients. Bionews 653. London: Progress Educational Trust.
Gürtin, Z.B., Golombok, S. and Ahuja, K. (2012 in press) Emotional and relational aspects of egg-sharing: Egg-share donors’ and recipients’ feelings about each other, each others’ treatment outcome, and any resulting children. Human Reproduction. Advance access available online.
Gürtin, Z.B., Golombok, S. and Ahuja, K. (2012 in press) Egg-sharing, Consent and Exploitation: Examining egg-share donors’ and recipients’ circumstances and retrospective reflections. Ethics, Bioscience and Life. Advance access available online.
Gürtin, Z.B. and Vayena, E. (2012 in press) Diversity in Donation. In M. Richards, J. Appleby & G. Pennings (eds.) Reproductive Donation: Bioethics, Policy and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pennings, G. and Gürtin, Z.B. (2012 in press) Transnational Donation. In M. Richards, J. Appleby & G. Pennings (eds.) Reproductive Donation: Bioethics, Policy and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gürtin, Z.B. (2011) Banning Reproductive Travel? Turkey’s ART legislation and Third-Party Assisted Reproduction. Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 23(5): 555-564.
Gürtin, Z.B. and Inhorn, M.C. (2011) Guest Editorial - Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Travelling for Conception and the Global ART Market. Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 23(5): 535-537.
Inhorn, M.C. and Gürtin, Z.B. (2011) Cross-Border Reproductive Care: A Future Research Agenda. Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 23(5): 665-676.
Gürtin, Z.B. (2012 in press) Assisted Reproduction in Secular Turkey: Regulation, Rhetoric, and the Role of Religion. In M. Inhorn and S. Tremayne. (eds.) Islam and Reproductive Technologies. New York: Berghahn Books.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2012 in press) ‘IVF Practitioners as Interface Agents between the Local and the Global: The localization of IVF in Turkey.’ M. Knect, M. Klotz & S. Beck. (eds.) Reproductive Technologies as Global Form. Berlin: Campus Verlag.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2010) ‘Unpacking Cross-Border Reproductive Care’ Commentary for BioNews, 584. London: Progress Educational Trust.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2010) ‘Making Babies in the 21st Century: The Rise of Reproductive Technologies’ Event Report for BioNews, 583. London: Progress Educational Trust.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2010) ‘Problems with legislating against ‘Reproductive ‘Tourism’’ Commentary for BioNews, 550.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2009) 'Anything to become a mother': Migrant Turkish Women's Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in London, in Culley, L, Hudson, N & van Rooij, F. (eds) Marginalised Reproduction: Ethnicity Infertility and Reproductive Technologies. Earthscan.
Dunn, M., Gurtin-Broadbent, Z., Ives, J. and Wheeler, J. (2008) ‘Jack of all trades, master of none? Challenges facing junior academic researchers in bioethics’, Clinical Ethics, 3(4). With M. Dunn, J. Ives & J. Wheeler.
Gurtin-Broadbent, Z. and Jensen, E. (2006) ‘Talking Embryos: Under and Interdisciplinary Microscope.’ Commentary for Bionews, 358. London: Progress Educational Trust.
Email
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