Biography

Katarina Trimmings joined the Law School of the University of Aberdeen as a Lecturer in August 2012. She is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Private International Law at the Law School of the University of Aberdeen.

Between August 2010 and July 2012, Katarina was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Law School and worked with Professor Paul Beaumont on a major research study into private international law aspects of cross-border surrogacy arrangements. The project, titled ‘International Surrogacy Arrangements: An Urgent Need for a Regulation at the International Level’, was generously funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Between November 2006 and July 2010, Katarina carried out her doctoral research at the Law School of the University of Aberdeen, supervised by Professor Paul Beaumont.

Prior to the commencement of her doctoral studies, Katarina had been employed as a research assistant of Professor Nigel Lowe at the Centre for International Family Law Studies at the University of Cardiff. She participated in two major projects investigating the operation of the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Between 2001 and 2004, Katarina was working as a legal adviser at the Central Authority of the Slovak Republic for international parental child abduction and inter-country adoption.

Internal Memberships

Acting Director of the Centre for Private International Law at the Law School of the University of Aberdeen http://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/research/centre-for-private-international-law-70.php

Convener of the Committee for Research Ethics & Governance in Arts, Social Sciences & Business

Law School Research Environment and Research Impact Lead

Personal Tutor

Research Overview

• Private international law of family law
• Comparative family law

Current Research

1. Dr Trimmings is currently leading a major EU-funded collaborative research project 'Protection of Abducting Mothers in Return Proceedings: Intersection between Domestic Violence and Parental Child Abduction' (POAM Project). See https://research.abdn.ac.uk/poam/ for more details on the project.
2. Dr Trimmings is participating in a project 'Principles for the protection of the rights of the child in the context of surrogacy', led by the International Social Service. The project seeks to establish a set of principles for the protection of the human rights of children born through cross-border surrogacy arrangements. 

Collaborations

• POAM Project research team - see https://research.abdn.ac.uk/poam/research-team/
• Associate Members of the Centre for Private International (i.e. an extensive network of Private International Law scholars from around the world) - see http://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/research/associate-members-73.php .

Funding and Grants

1. Clark Foundation (2019) - a grant of £2,385 for a project titled 'UK Surrogacy Law Reform: Exploring the Application of Surrogacy Laws, Attitudes towards Surrogacy, and Attitudes towards the Reform of the Law Governing Surrogacy amongst Judges and Legal Practitioners in Scotland’. The aim of the project is to assist the Law Commissions in the current reform process of the UK surrogacy laws.  
2. European Union, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2018) - a grant of EUR 432,218 for a large collaborative project 'Protection of Abducting Mothers in Return Proceedings: Intersection between Domestic Violence and Parental Child Abduction' (POAM Project). Start date: 1 January 2019. Duration: 24 months. Principal Investigator.
3. European Union, Civil Justice Programme (2013) - a grant of EUR 913,951 for a large collaborative project 'Cross-Border Litigation in Europe: Private International Law Legislative Framework, National Courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union' (EUPILLAR Project) (2014-2016). Co-Investigator.
4. EU Lifelong Learning Programme - the Jean Monnet Scheme (2012) - a grant of  39,000 EUR for the organisation of a series of workshops on cross-border litigation in Europe. Co-Investigator.
5. Nuffield Foundation (2010) - a grant of over £112,000 for a 2-year study into private international law problems associated with cross-border surrogacy arrangements (2010-2012). Named Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Teaching Responsibilities

Dr Trimmings is the course co-ordinator for the following courses:

1.) Family Law (Honours)

2.) International Family Law (Honours)

3.) Private International Law: Concepts and Institutions (LLM)

4.) Private International Law (Ordinary) (together with Prof Beaumont)

In addition, Dr Trimmings participates in teaching on the following courses:

1.) Private International Law of Family Law (LLM) 

2.) Family Law (Ordinary)

3.) EU Law and Institutions (Ordinary)