Brian Tobin

Winner, CBPPL Deans Award for Inclusive Teaching 2021 Winner, CBPPL Award for Excellence in Teaching 2023 Finalist, Legal Educator of the Year, Dye and Durham Irish Law Awards 2023 amp; 2024 Finalist, Society of Legal Scholars 2024 Margaret Brazier Prize for Outstanding Scholarship I hold LL.B, LL.M and Ph.D degrees from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Educationfrom the University of Galway (NUI Galway).My primary research interests are in the areas of Family and Child Law, with a particular focus on the legal recognition of contemporaryfamily forms and theposition of children born via donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) and surrogacy. I have published articles on these areas in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family , Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Child and Family Law Quarterly, the Irish Jurist, Australian Journal of Family Law and European Human Rights Law Review . My book, The Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships: Emerging Families in Ireland and Beyond (Oxford: Hart)was published in 2023, and was shortlisted for the Society of Legal Scholars 2024Margaret Brazier Prize for Outstanding Scholarship. Ioccasionally write family law-related Op-Ed pieces for the Irish Times, Irish Examiner and Business Post, and I am a frequent media contributor regarding the rights of same-sex parents and children conceived via donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) and surrogacy. I have contributed to policy development in the U.K. and Ireland in the areas of donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) and surrogacy.In 2014, I provided expert oral testimony based on the findings in my PhD thesisto the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality during pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Children and Family Relationships Bill.In 2018, I was invited to Leinster House to contribute to an Oireachtas briefing on the legal ramifications of non-commencement of Parts 2 amp; 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act.On 17thJuly 2018,when the Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill was passed,I was commended in the Seanad for my ongoingadvocacy work regarding parental rights for same-sex couples and my guidance to the members of the Oireachtas. On 26th May 2022, I provided oral testimonyto the Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy.InOctober 2018 I was invited toattendthe Houses of Parliament in Westminster to provide expert oral testimony on surrogacy law reform to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Surrogacy, and in September 2019 I was invited to contribute to the International Social Services UK Expert Consultation on Draft International Principles for the Protection of the Rights of the Child born through Surrogacy (Verona Principles). In 2021, I was invited by ICF, a global consultancy acting on behalf of the DG Justice of the EU Commission , to contribute as national expert for Ireland to an impact assessment for a possible EU Digital Certificate of Parenthood which would recognise legal parentage established in one Member State across the EU 27. In 2019, I was part of an academicconsortium awarded funding from the Irish Research Council under its Creative Connections scheme for a project entitled Feminism, Fertility and Reproduction: Towards a Progressive Politics. In 2020, I was awarded a Charlemont Grant by the Royal Irish Academy to undertake a research visit to the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. In 2021, I was the successful tenderer (with Dr Fergus Ryan of Maynooth Universitys School of Law)for funding from the Department of Justice to carry out a Review of the Law on Guardianship in the context of Children born outside of Marriage or Civil Partnership. In 2022, I received funding from the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) for my family and child law conference, Contemporary Parent-Child Relationships and the Law, which was held at University of Galway in 2023. In 2018-2019, I spent my sabbatical leave from the University of Galway asa Visiting Researcher at the Dickson Poon School of Law, Kings College London. In 2022, I was elected a Council Member of TREOIR, the national federation of services for unmarried parents.I welcome inquiries from prospective Research MastersPhD students interested in family and child lawsexuality and the lawequity and trusts.

Family and Child Law, with a particular focus at presenton contemporary family forms and the legal position of children born viaassisted human reproduction and surrogacy; Gender, Sexuality and Law; Equity and the Law of Trusts; Sport and the Law.