Event Details

The Future of Human Reproduction project featured at the 2023 ESRC Festival of Social Science hosted by Health Innovation Campus at Lancaster University.

The event aimed to spark conversations about the possible cultural, ethical, and social impacts of reproductive technology, specifically ectogenesis (the process of growing a fetus outside the human body in an artificial womb).

The team began by introducing the audience to ectogenesis – what it is and how it could work, providing a brief history of artificial wombs, including how they’ve been imagined in books and movies before sharing the latest scientific progress in this area. The discussion moved on to consider the ethical, legal, and social challenges that ectogenesis might raise in the future and the audience were invited to interact with an interactive exhibit. This featured speculative design artifacts created to explore what the future might look like if ectogenesis became common. The exhibition invited visitors to think about the possible consequences of these new technologies and share their own ideas on how they could change society.

The event closed with a book club discussion focused on a chapter from Anne Charnock’s novel Dreams Before the Start of Time.

The team found this an engaging way to explore complex issues with a wide range of people, including students, academics, and medical professionals.