profile
Dr Marie-Hélène Peter-Spiess is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Law and at the URPP Human Reproduction Reloaded of the University of Zurich and a research associate at the Global Health Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is also the co-coordinator of SwissRepro, the Swiss Research Network for Reproductive Studies.
As part of her research, Marie-Hélène has been a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge and at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center. She has also served as a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris (Reims campus) and at the University of Geneva. Prior to her academic activities, she was admitted to the Swiss bar and worked as an attorney-at-law in Geneva.
Marie-Hélène holds a PhD in Law from the University of Zurich, a CAS in Legal Professions from the University of Geneva, a Master of Law from the University of Zurich, and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Fribourg. She also completed part of her studies at the East China University of Political Sciences and Law and at the East China Normal University in Shanghai.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Revisiting the Regulations Applicable to Infant and Young Child Nutrition, in: S. Zhou (ed.), Research Handbook on Law and Noncommunicable Diseases, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham 2026 (with Stéphanie Dagron, forthcoming)
Care entlang eines Spektrums: Vaterschaft in der Rechtsprechung des EGMR, in: M. Cottier/K. Scheiwe/C. Voithofer (eds.), Handbuch Sorgearbeit, Sorgebeziehungen und das Recht – Caring and the law, Springer, Berlin 2026, p. 295 (with Alice Margaria, link, open access)
Navigating FemTech App Regulation in Switzerland: Challenges and Opportunities from a Public Health Perspective, in: Contraception, 157, 2026, 110975 (with Dylan Hofmann, link, open access)
Strategies for Interdisciplinary Human Gene Editing Research: Insights from a Swiss Project, in: The CRISPR Journal, 8(2), 2025, p. 79 (with Agnes Kandlbinder et al., link)
Disputing Legal Fatherhood: Navigating Hurdles and Balancing Interests: Vagdalt v Hungary (App. No. 9525/19), in: European Human Rights Law Review, 5/2024, p. 454 (link)
Food regulation and public health: the case of sugar, Schulthess, Geneva/Zurich 2024 (link, open access)
Sucres ajoutés et santé publique : quelles perspectives pour une réglementation ?, in: Jusletter 26 August 2024 (link)
A.L. v. France: Domestic Surrogacy, Genetic Fatherhood and the Best Interests of the Child, in: Strasbourg Observers, 10 February 2023 (link)
Surrogacy and Same-Sex Parenthood Before the European Court of Human Rights: Reflections in Light of Cases Against Switzerland, in: Swiss Review of International and European Law, 32, 3/2022, p. 397 (with Elena Brodeala, link)
Human Germline Editing: Legal Framework in Switzerland and Abroad, in: Life Science Recht, 4/2022, p. 251 (with Andrea Büchler, link)
Book review of Alice Margaria, The Construction of Fatherhood: The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press 2019), in: Human Rights Law Review, 22, 2/2022 (with Elena Brodeala, link)
Gender Balance on Boards: Potential and Challenges for Regulation at EU Level, in: Romanian Journal of Comparative Law, 1/2021, p. 7 (with Elena Brodeala, link)