Seminar - Experiences of donor linking: Research and personal perspectives

Experiences of donor linking: Research and personal perspectives VARTA's 2018 seminar explored what happens when people who are connected as a result of donor conception treatment learn each other’s identities| exchange information or meet. The sold out event| held on 9 July| examined the latest research into donor linking and its outcomes and listened to the experiences of people who have been through the process.

Dr Joanna Scheib, Associate Professor, Psychology Department, University of California, Davis and The Sperm Bank of California (TSBC), Berkeley was VARTA's guest international presenter. Joanna spoke on the topic of 'Lessons learnt from 10 years of linking', outlining TSBC's experience with donor linking over the past ten years. 

Dr Deborah Dempsey, Associate Professor in Sociology, Swinburne University of Technology, presented her findings from a survey of people who have used VARTA's Donor Conception Register Services in her talk 'Why do people apply to the donor conception registers?'

VARTA CEO, Louise Johnson, presented on the topic 'The right to know legislation: a year on', where she looked at trends in applications to the donor conception registers since changes to Victorian donor conception laws on 1 March 2017.

The event also included a donor-conceived person, a recipient parent and two donors sharing their experience of donor linking.

VARTA thanks Russell Kennedy for use of its events space for the event.