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‘Parenthood Research’ is a research group at Ghent University, established in September 2011. The group is based at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy as a subdivision of the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences. It serves as a meeting point for academics who teach or conduct research on issues (broadly) related to parenthood.

We collaborate closely with professionals from various research fields, such as psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, lawyers, and medical doctors. Our work is grounded in the principles of empirical ethics, connecting insights gained through qualitative and quantitative methods with value-based and normative considerations.

Currently, we are working on the A-Page project, a Swiss-Belgian interdisciplinary research project on ‘Family building at Advanced Parental AGE.’ Through this project, we aim to increase understanding of the experiences, moral reasoning, and decision-making processes of ‘older’ parents (i.e. who were 40 years or older when their child was born) and the children of such parents. We investigate the moral, legal, and social implications of age as a factor in these families and in reproduction in general.

In addition, a research project is running on a recent phenomenon where people looking to start a family engage in (online) speed dating with other prospective parents to conceive a child, with or without medical intervention (fertility treatment). The project examines how prospective parents communicate, their expectations, and the agreements they make (choosing co-parenting or a form of gamete donation). The project is conducted in collaboration with Professor Henny Bos (University of Amsterdam) and the ‘Meer dan Gewenst’ foundation.