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Dr Georgina Robinson is a social scientific researcher with expertise in the interdisciplinary field of Death Studies. Her research largely employs a mixed-methods approach, drawing principally from sociology, anthropology and STS. The quality and impact of her work has been recognised by her commissioning to consult the Law Commission of England and Wales and Scottish Government on defining new funerary regulations. She is regularly invited to present her research findings internationally in academic, funerary, and public settings. Her research has predominantly focused on four key areas: (1) methods of body disposal and their popular acceptability; (2) the impact of Covid-19 upon the management of British crematoria; (3) the transformation of death and funerary practices in the digital age; and (4) public education of funerary choices and their costs. Robinson’s doctoral research pioneered the first social study of the funerary innovation of alkaline hydrolysis in the UK, with transatlantic fieldwork undertaken in the UK and USA. The research explored how alkaline hydrolysis may be adopted in accordance with the sociocultural and worldview contours of contemporary Britain – ‘Alkaline Hydrolysis: The Future of British Death-Styles’ is available to read via:

Hanne is a PhD researcher in law at the University of Antwerp and a member of the Antwerp Health Law and Ethics Chair (AHLEC). Her doctoral research forms part of the broader interdisciplinary “Death-Care” project, which examines the legal and socio-cultural challenges surrounding post-mortem practices. Her research focuses on alternative methods of corpse disposal, body donation to science, post-mortem examinations, the right to determine the method of body disposal, the rights of relatives during public health crises, burial preferences of religious minorities, and the protection of wishes concerning corpse disposal.

This presentation examines recent legislative initiatives and emerging approaches to new forms of corpse disposal, focusing on alkaline hydrolysis in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scotland, with limited functional references to other jurisdictions. It explores how these values are translated into regulatory frameworks through the lens of ethical frameworks developed in Belgium and the Netherlands, which identify dignity, safety, and sustainability as core principles underpinning funerary legislation and guiding the assessment of new methods. It argues that new forms of corpse disposal may be integrated through a threefold regulatory model combining method-specific provisions, the extension of rules applicable to functionally comparable methods, and method-neutral requirements. Finally, it demonstrates that a central regulatory challenge lies in ensuring legal clarity, particularly with regard to technical and sustainability requirements, as well as the classification and treatment of new forms of (non-)human remains.