Abbie is a Postdoctoral Research Associate within the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine. She specialises in international law and global health, with a focus on Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS).

As of January 2025, she is the recipient of a 3-year Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. Her project, entitled ‘The Past, Present and Future of Pathogen ABS’, seeks to determine:

1. What does justice demand in a health emergency, and
2. Is a pathogen ABS system capable of delivering such demands?

Abbie obtained her PhD in Global Health & Social Medicine from King’s College, London and she holds a Bachelor of Laws and an MA in Human Rights, Globalisation and Justice from Keele University.

Research

• International Law and Infectious Diseases
• Pathogen Sharing and Equitable Access to Vaccines
• Global Health Justice
• Pandemic Preparedness

Project Title: ‘The Past, Present and Future of Pathogen ABS’

This research seeks to address a gap in the literature and examine the present ABS system, both bilateral and multilateral in nature, from the perspective of global (in)justice, by:

1. Interrogating the legal, political, social, and economic drivers which created and sustained such a system
2. Assessing what principles should underpin the successful implementation and functioning of a justice-based approach to physical and digital pathogen genetic resources
3. Articulating a novel comprehension of ‘global health justice’ during a health emergency, within the context of pathogen ABS and access to medicines

Further details

See Abbie's research profile