School of Social and Political Science

Lucy Lowe

Head of Social Anthropology

Lucy Lowe breastfeeding her baby.
Lucy.Lowe@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 650 4286
5.28
Chrystal Macmillan Building
15a George Square
Edinburgh
UK
EH8 9LD

Research interests

Gender Politics Research Group Gender, Feminism and Sexuality Health & Well-being Kinship, bodies and relatedness Migration and experiences of displacement Social studies of biology and medicine

My research is grounded in a commitment to social justice and ethical engagement, and draws together gender, reproductive health, and forced migration, in order to analyse the relationship between reproductive and migrant justice. My work illuminates how practices and ideologies of gender, motherhood, and reproduction are centred in processes of migration and asylum.

My recent research includes the ESRC New Investigator Grant-funded project Maternity, Migration, and Asylum in Scotland (MAMAS) and the ESRC GCRF Protracted Displacement project Improving healthcare at the intersection of gender and protracted displacement amongst Somali and Congolese refugees and IDPs (DiSoCo)

Current PhD Students

Leah Eades, After the Eighth: Abortion and the Politics of Reproduction in Post-Repeal Ireland

Tara Pollak, Reproducing Loss: An Investigation into Pregnant Bodies and Bereavement in the Lothians, Scotland

Sara Cummings, Donor Breast Milk use in Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Scotland.

Parisa Hashempour

Ella Boland

Topics interested in supervising

I am interested in supervising research students working on topics that relate to my research interests, particularly in areas of reproductive health, rights, and justice, mothering, migration, and displacement.

If you are interested in being supervised by Lucy Lowe, please see the links below (open in new windows) for more information:

Background

I gained my PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. My thesis, Transnational Conceptions: Displacement, Maternity, and Onward Migration among Somalis in Nairobi, Kenya, examined the relationship between migration and reproductive journeys, and the impact this has on the lives of migrant women. 

I held a lectureship at the University of Glasgow before returning to Edinburgh to take up my current post in 2017. I was the Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (2019-2021) and currently work on two research projects that draw together my research interests in gender, health, and migration.

Works within

Teaching

In 25/26 I will be teaching on the Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction and leading the PhD writing up seminar.

Meet with me

During the summer, please email me for an appointment to meet online or on campus.