Barbara Sumner

What is adoption, really? On Human Adoption begins where most adoption narratives end: not with the social idea of rescue, but with what follows. Using New Zealand as a case study, a country whose adoption legislation both mirrors and illuminates the intent of adoption law across the English-speaking world, Dr Barbara Sumner examines adoption as a legal and ideological construct that erases biological identity in the service of the state.

Submitted: 04 February 2026 You are already at the latest version Influenza is a persistent public health concern worldwide. Elucidation of influenza A virus (IAV)-host interactions and identification of host factors that regulate IAV infection would be beneficial for combating and treating the disease. Ceramides, comprising a host sphingolipid family, have been shown to regulate virus infections. However, the effect of IAV on individual ceramides remains unknown.

In this episode of The Good Girl Confessional, host Sandy Lowres welcomes the extraordinary Barbara Sumner, a New Zealand filmmaker, author, and PhD scholar. Barbara shares the inspiration behind her latest novel, The Gallows Bird, a historical fiction set in the 1830s that unveils the untold stories of women convicts transported to Australia.