Dr Jonathan Ainslie, Dr Euan West, and Dr Patricia Živković presented their research within the Death and Law project at the international conference The Legal Distinction between Persons & Things: Changing Perspectives, held at the University of Antwerp on 7–8 July 2025.
The conference brought together legal scholars and experts from related disciplines to reconsider the conceptual and doctrinal boundary between “persons” and “things,” particularly within private law. The Aberdeen team contributed to the panel “From Person to Thing and Back: Legal Boundaries between Dignity and Commodification before and after Death,” which was moderated by Dr Nevena Jevremović. Their presentations formed part of a wider discussion on how contemporary legal systems draw, challenge, and reconfigure the categories that structure legal personality, human dignity, and the status of the body and bodily materials.
Participation in the conference provided the team with valuable opportunities to engage with international scholars working at the forefront of these debates. The event offered a forum for constructive feedback on their ongoing research, the expansion of academic networks, and the strengthening of interdisciplinary dialogue. Their involvement also helped raise the profile of Aberdeen’s research strengths in critically examining the legal and conceptual boundaries that shape the treatment of persons and things across the life-and-death spectrum.
