Profile
Biography
Dr Magdalena Furgalska
LLB (Hull), LLM (Birmingham), MA in Social Research (Birmingham), PhD (Birmingham), PGCAP (York)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Lecturer
I joined York Law School in 2021, having previously taught at Durham Law School. Prior to joining the York Law School I was involved in several research projects in the area of healthcare law, ethics, disability, and international human rights. Most notably, I was a Research Fellow at the WHO (2019 – 2021), working on systematic reviews that underpin the law and policy chapter of the 2022 edition of the Safe Abortion Guidance. I was previously a researcher on the UN Women Project exploring gender equality in Constitutions. My research there focused on abortion provisions in the 2010 Kenyan Constitution.
My doctoral thesis titled ‘Achieving Social Justice for Psychiatric Survivors: Capabilities and Advance Consent to Mental Health Treatment’ was awarded from Birmingham Law School. It was a socio-legal and empirical examination of the desirability of advance consent (a type of advance decision) to mental health treatment in English law. The thesis was driven by the theoretical lens provided by the capabilities approach and grounded in an innovative narrative and photo-elicitation data. I was funded through the ESRC 1+3 funding stream.
I am a socio-legal scholar interested in empirical approaches to mental health and health law. My work focuses on decision-making processes. I am also a core team member of the Administrative Fairness Lab.
Externally, I am also a consultant (contract-based) to the World Health Organisation on matters relating to abortion and abortion research. I co-convene the Mental Health and Mental Disability Law Stream at a learned society (the Socio-Legal Studies Association, SLSA). I am also an Associate Editor for Commentaries for the Medical Law International journal.
Please click the ‘research’ tab to learn about my current research projects and expertise.
I welcome expressions of interest in collaboration on projects and ideas from academics, students, policy officials and legal and health professionals.
Research
Overview
My primary areas of research activity are socio-legal approaches to mental health law and medical law. I am particularly interested in interdisciplinary and empirical understandings of legal concepts relating to consent, advance decisions, and decision-making processes more broadly and, most importantly, how law works in practice and in everyday life. My secondary area of research activity and interest is reproductive healthcare law. I am particularly interested in abortion laws and consent and medical decision-making surrounding pregnant persons with mental health diagnoses.
I adopt empirical socio-legal methodologies in my work. I have a particular interest in methodological innovation in legal research. I have experience in doctrinal, qualitative, and quantitative research methods and mixed-method research design. I particularly enjoy utilising visual and narrative research methods as well as public-health style systematic reviews for robust synthesis of evidence. I have a keen interest and expertise in developing nuanced analytical frameworks for analysing empirical data.
I welcome PhD supervision enquiries from students intending to work on projects which concern any of the following:
- Mental Health Law; consent (advance consent & informed consent), compulsory treatment, advance decisions and the clinical concept of 'insight'
- Mental Capacity Law; mental capacity and advance decisions
- Reproductive Healthcare; abortion and reproductive decision-making, especially in the context of mental illness
- Socio-legal theory and methods; innovative qualitative research methodologies
- Law in everyday life
- International Human Rights, in particular, the right to health, disability rights and women's rights
Projects
- Alternatives to Coercion in Mental Health Decision-Making project is part of the Administrative Fairness in Healthcare funded by the University of York SPARKS initiative. The project explores processes around decision-making in respect of mental health detention and discharge of patients and aims to recommend ways of reducing experiences of coercion in mental health care.
- Implementing Advance Choice Documents. This is an impact-based project focusing on the implementation of advance choice documents in mental health care. More information to follow in due course.
Publications
Selected publications
Please view my full publication record in the York Research Database by clicking the button at the top of this page.
M Furgalska, ‘Mental Health Inpatient Care’, in Romanis, Germain and Herring (eds) Diverse Voices in Health Law and Ethics (Bristol University Press, 2025), forthcoming.
M Furgalska & F de Londras (2024) ’Towards a rights-based approach for disabled women’s access to abortion’ Medical Law Review, 32(4), 486-504.
M Furgalska (2023) 'Informed consent is a bit of a joke to me’: lived experiences of insight, coercion, and capabilities in mental health care settings. International Journal of Law in Context, 19(4), 456-474.
M Furgalska & Fiona de Londras (2022) 'Rights, Lawfare and Reproduction: Reflections on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s Abortion Decision' Israel Law Review, 55(3), 285-31.
F de Londras, A Cleeve, M Rodriguez, A Farrell, M Furgalska & A Lavalanet (2023) ‘The impact of third-party authorisation requirements on abortion-related outcomes: a synthesis of legal and health evidence’. BMC Public Health, 23, 2065.
de Londras, A Cleeve, M Rodriguez, A Farrell, M Furgalska & A Lavalanet, ‘The impact of conscientious objection on abortion-related outcomes: a synthesis of legal and health evidence’ (2023) 129 Health Policy 104716
F de Londras, A Cleeve, M Rodriguez, A Farrell, M Furgalska & A Lavalanet, ‘The impact of provider restrictions on abortion-related outcomes: a synthesis of legal and health evidence’ (2022) 19 Reproductive Health 95
F de Londras, A Cleeve, M Rodriguez, A Farrell, M Furgalska & A Lavalanet, ‘The impact of mandatory waiting periods on abortion-related outcomes: a synthesis of legal and health evidence’ (2022) 22 Public Health 1232
F de Londras, A Cleeve, M Rodriguez, A Farrell, M Furgalska & A Lavalanet, ‘The impact of criminalisation on abortion-related outcomes: a synthesis of legal and health evidence’ (2022) 12 BMJ Global Health
External activities
Overview
Consultancy
- Consultant to the WHO (contract based): I am on the World Health Organization's roster of consultants on the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion. The Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (PUA) is a unit of the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research.
Stream convenorship
- SLSA Mental Health and Mental Disability Law Stream Convenor: I am also a Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) member.
I welcome enquiries about commissioned research and policy work related to mental health law, mental capacity or health law.
Memberships
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Society for Legal Scholars (SLS)
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Socio-Legal Studies Association
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Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS Durham)
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Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy (Birmingham)
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Administrative Fairness Lab (core team)
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The Institute for Mental Health Research at York
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Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Editorial duties
- Associate Editor for Commentaries for the Medical Law International
- Guest Editor for the Special Issue on Mental Health Law Reform for the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
