This book is the culmination of a research project spanning more than three years and events on two continents. It has involved 29 contributors from 19 jurisdictions, coming from the fields of law, medicine and philosophy. A project of this magnitude could not have been undertaken without the generous support of the WYNG Foundation of Hong Kong. It was through their funding that we were able to bring together experts from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and the Middle East at a conference held under the auspices of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) of the University of Hong Kong and Cambridge Family Law on 9 and 10 September 2016, which served as a foundation for this volume. We wish to thank the Foundation for giving us this opportunity and hope that this book furthers their mission to acquire, exchange, disseminate and apply knowledge to achieve a more advanced and a more caring society. We also wish to particularly thank Au Yun Ling, for her exceptional administrative support in organising the Hong Kong conference, and St John's College and its Master, Rev. Dr Eric Chong, for providing accommodation for some of our speakers (and authors of this volume).

The Hong Kong conference was followed by a conference on ‘Law and Practice of Surrogacy’, held at Cambridge on 25 and 26 June 2018 and organised jointly by Cambridge Family Law and the Academy of European Law (ERA), with a focus on European developments. We would particularly like to thank Dr Angelika Fuchs, the Head of Section for Private Law at ERA, as well as Tabea Lüth from ERA for the very fruitful and efficient cooperation on this event.

The (probably) final event to which this project is tied, and where the book will be officially launched, will be the ‘International Surrogacy Forum’ in Cambridge on 27 and 28 June 2019, organised jointly by Cambridge Family Law, the International Academy of Family Lawyers and the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Family Law. We would like to thank, in particular, Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE, QC (Hon) for taking the initiative on this event and being so supportive throughout the process.