Catherine Bowden

I am a Research Associate in the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy (CSEP) and Cancer Division at the University of Manchester.  Having worked as a solicitor in commercial law and clinical negligence, I joined CSEP completing my MA by distance learning in 2013 and my PhD on a part time basis in 2022.  

Over the past eight years, I have taught on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses including tort law; principles of law and medical ethics; medicine, technology, morals and the law; medico legal problems; and leadership in action.  I am also a deputy chief examiner in advanced tort law for the University of London.

My research interests lie in the legal and ethical issues surrounding pregnancy and reproduction, and how data can be used in health research with patient support.  I am currently working on two projects in the area of health data.  The GP Data Trust project is exploring why patients opt-out of sharing their health data for research purposes and whether a legal trust could provide a way of alleviating patients' concerns.  As part of the RAPID-RT study, I am conducting qualitative research into the experiences of patients and clinicians of an opt-out approach to health data sharing in rapid learning studies, based at the Christie Hospital Manchester.