European Animal Rights Law Conference 2022

Helping to make change possible — Find out more about our fundraiser in celebration of the bicentennial of Martin’s Act. Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law NewsAbout Events ResearchTeaching wildpigs.jpg Conferences In this section, you can find an overview of all the conferences that our Centre is organising or has organised in the past. Conferences are longer events than workshops and are usually focused on a broader range of topics. Our Conferences are generously sponsored by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. European Animal Rights Law Conference 2022 The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law is delighted to announce the European Animal Rights Law Conference 2022. The Conference will take place from 17-18th September 2022 at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. The event will bring together leading academics from the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland, Belgium, France, and the US. The keynote addresses will be delivered by Dr Richard Ryder (RSPCA) and Professor Justin Marceau (University of Denver Sturm College of Law). Registration The Conference is open to all. Registration is possible here (and will close on 28th August). Format and recording The Conference will be held in person and will be recorded, but not live-streamed. Recordings will be made available on our website after the Conference.  Catering Coffee, tea, and nibbles are included in all tickets. Two separate ticket categories are available for those who would like to have lunch and dinner in College. All catering will be vegan.  Accommodation A limited number of rooms is available for Conference guests at St Edmund's College. If you are interested in booking such a room, you should contact the Conference Manager at conference.coordinator@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk. The room costs are as follows: single ensuite £63.00 + VAT; double ensuite £113.40 + VAT; non ensuite £49.50 + VAT; double non ensuite £89.10 + VAT. The price includes breakfast.  Conference programme (also available as a PDF file) Saturday, September 17th 9.00 – 9.20am Registration 9.20 – 9.40am  Sean Butler & Raffael Fasel (University of Cambridge) Welcome from the Centre Panel 1: Foundations of Animal Rights 9.40 – 10am Bernd Ladwig (Free University of Berlin) Animal rights – moral, political and legal dimensions 10 – 10.20am  Federico Zuolo (University of Genoa) If you are an egalitarian, how come you're so inclusive? On egalitarianism in animal ethics and beyond 10.20 – 11am Panel discussion and Q&A 11 – 11.40am Coffee break Saturday Keynote Address 11.40am – 12.40pm Richard Ryder (RSPCA) Painism, Speciesism, and the Law 12.40 – 2.40pm  Lunch break Panel 2: Animals’ Changing Legal Status 2.40 – 3pm  Visa Kurki (University of Helsinki) A bird’s-eye view to animals in the law Comments by Katharina Braun (Free University of Berlin)  3 – 3.20pm  Frederik Swennen (University of Antwerp) Looking beyond the person-property divide 3.20 – 3.40pm Steven McCulloch (University of Winchester) The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act and the role of the Animal Sentience Committee 3.40 – 4.30pm Panel discussion and Q&A 4.30 – 5pm Tea break 7 – 9pm  Formal dinner (ticket required for attendees) Sunday, September 18th Panel 3: Farmed Animals and Food Justice 9.20 – 9.40am Josh Milburn (University of Sheffield) Is there a place for animals in the just food system?  9.40 – 10am Steven Cooke (University of Leicester) Caring about farm animal welfare 10 – 10.20am Alice Di Concetto (European Institute for Animal Law & Policy) Animals under a welfarist regime: EU farm animal law Comments by Veerle Platvoet (University of Helsinki) 10.20 – 11am Coffee break 11am – 12 noon Panel discussion and Q&A Sunday Keynote Address 12 noon – 1pm Justin Marceau (University of Denver) Glass walls and animal protection messaging 1 – 3pm Lunch break Panel 4: The Constitutional Turn in Animal Rights 3 – 3.20pm Iyan Offor (Birmingham City University) Multispecies lawscapes in the Anthropocene: Priorities for a critical, constitutional turn Comments by Guy Baldwin (University of Cambridge) 3.20 – 3.40pm Diana Cerini (University of Milano-Bicocca) The legal status of animals in Italy: bias between the Constitutional Reform and the immobility of the Civil Code Comments by Eva Bernet Kempers (University of Antwerp) 3.40 – 4.20pm Panel discussion and Q&A END OF CONFERENCE Our European Animal Rights Law Conference is generously sponsored by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. Past conferences European Animal Rights Law Conference 2021 The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law hosted the European Animal Rights Law Conference from 17-18th September 2021 in the Woolf Institute on the Westminster College site in Cambridge. The event brought together leading academics from the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Poland. You can access the conference playlist on YouTube including Dr Raffael Fasel’s welcome, or find individual talks below.   The presentations by Conference participants were divided into four themed panels which can be explored below. You can also download the programme as a PDF file if preferred. Posters and presentations were on display for each talk, and can be downloaded through the linked titles. Panel 1: Animals and Agency Angie Pepper (University of Roehampton) & Richard Healey (UCL) Assent and the possibility of interspecies justice Eva Meijer (University of Amsterdam) What do the animals think? Taking into account animal agency in animal rights Keynote Address Alasdair Cochrane (University of Sheffield) Interspecies solidarity: from moral sentiments to political and legal transformation Panel 2: Animal Rights Constitutionalism John Adenitire (Queen Mary University) The rule of law for all sentient animals David Bilchitz (University of Reading / University of Johannesburg) Through which institutional structures should animal interests be addressed in democracies? A critical exploration of the SPCA Model in South Africa Panel 3: Property, Personhood and Basic Rights Małgorzata Lubelska-Sazanów (University of Silesia) Animal as subjects or objects of law? Marina Lostal (University of Essex) De-objectifying animals: could they qualify as victims before the International Criminal Court? Joshua Jowitt (Newcastle University) Miracle on Eagle Street Darren Calley (University of Essex) Animals and the right to life: historical relativism, rights discourse and the law Panel 4: Animals and War Saskia Stucki (MPIL Heidelberg) Animal welfare/warfare law and animal rights: from dichotomy to complementarity Joe Wills (University of Leicester) Unspeakable: the law, naming and unique wrongs against animals European Animal Rights Law Conference 2019 The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law hosted the first European Animal Rights Law Conference from 14-15th September 2019. The event, which took place at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, brought together animal rights law scholars and practitioners from Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Ireland, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. The Conference started in the morning of September 14th with an introduction by Dr Sean Butler and Dr Raffael Fasel. Dr Butler welcomed the 15 speakers and 50 guests, and explained how the Conference fits into the broader range of activities organised by the Centre. Dr Fasel then described the emerging discipline of animal rights law, and proposed the adoption of a pragmatic approach to animal rights, which does not get caught up in labels such as “welfarism” or “abolitionism”. Addressing the Conference’s focus on Europe, Dr Fasel said that; “ … while there are important dissimilarities between the animal laws of different European states, there are also important similarities—not least thanks to the Council of Europe and the EU. To build much-needed capacities not only in animal rights law scholarship, but also in animal rights law practice, it therefore seemed to make sense to us to first leverage existing European synergies. The mission of our Centre, however, is not only to draw together what already exists but, more importantly, to help build a European community of animal rights lawyers and thereby to generate new synergies …” The ensuing presentations by the Conference participants were divided into five different panels and included the following speakers (you can download the programme as a PDF file). Posters were on display for each talk, and can be downloaded below. Panel 1: Habeas corpus for Animals Macarena Montes Franceschini (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) “Legal Personhood: The Case of Chucho the Spectacled Bear” Vincent Chapaux (Université libre de Bruxelles) “Habeas Corpus as an Animal Right”  Panel 2: Constitutional Animal Rights Charlotte Blattner (Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program) “The Swiss Primate Case – A Stroke of Luck or Justice in Action?” Birgitta Wahlberg (Åbo Akademi University) “Fundamental Animal Rights: Proposal by the Finnish Animal Rights Lawyers Society” Ariel Bendor and Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg (Bar-Ilan University) “Animal Rights in the Shadow of the Constitution” Panel 3: The Merits and Limits of Animal Protection Regimes Anna Mulà Arribas (INTERcids) “Animal Protection Regulations in Spain: Evolution, Development and Challenges” Stephanie O’Flynn (National University of Ireland) “Challenges and Opportunities in Irish Animal Protection Law” Tomasz Pietrzykowski (University of Silesia) “In Search of Common Principles of the European Animal Law” Panel 4: Human Rights, Animal Rights, and Legal Personhood Joe Wills (University of Leicester) “Human Rights and Animal Rights: A Synergistic Approach” Visa Kurki (University of Helsinki) “Legal Personhood and Animal Rights: Book launch of A Theory of Legal Personhood” Panel 5: Animal Rights on the Ground Nuria Menéndez de Llano (University of Oviedo) “Legal Approach to Cruel Animal Festivals in Spain” Marco van Duijn (Animal Rights) “Advancing Animal Rights Using Legal Strategies” Edie Bowles (Advocates for Animals) “The Practice of Animal Law in the UK” The keynote address—on the topic “Islamic Conceptions of Animal Rights”—was delivered by Professor Kristen Stilt, Deputy Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Animal Law & Policy Program. In her engaging address, Professor Stilt explored the resources that the Quran and the Hadith have to offer to promote animal welfare and rights. A preview of the keynote address can be watched here: The full keynote can be accessed here. Some more impressions from the Conference: View fullsizeSean Butler and Raffael Fasel welcoming the guests and introducing the Centre View fullsizeMacarena Montes presenting on the Chucho case View fullsizeVincent Chapaux comparing different habeas corpus cases for nonhuman animals View fullsizeConference attendants stretching their legs in one of the coffee breaks View fullsizeConference attendants stretching their legs in one of the coffee breaks View fullsizeCharlotte Blattner discussing the Swiss primate rights initiative View fullsizeRaffael Fasel moderating one of the panel discussions View fullsizeAnna Mula discussing animal protection laws in Spain View fullsizeQuestions and answers in a panel discussion View fullsizePosters of Visa Kurki's and Joe Will's presentations View fullsizeKristen Stilt delivering her keynote address View fullsizeKristen Stilt delivering her keynote address View fullsizeA video being shown as part of Kristen Stilt's keynote speech. View fullsizeThe Conference offered plenty of time for in-depth discussions and networking View fullsizeVegan dessert at the Conference dinner. View fullsizeGroup photo of all the Conference dinner participants The Conference was generously sponsored by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. The views expressed in these presentations are those of the respective speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law.     Join our mailing list. First Name   Last Name   Email Address  Join This year, Michelle Liu launched the Animals v Emojis competition to raise awareness for animal rights and support our Centre. A student at Cheltenham Ladies' College, Michelle took to social media to challenge her international audience to find or  We are delighted to present Dr Richard Ryder, one of our speakers for this year's European Animal Rights Law Conference in September. His talk 'Painism, Speciesism and the Law' will explore a duty for states to protect any species that feels pain.  We are delighted to present Dr Iyan Offor, one of our speakers for this year's European Animal Rights Law Conference in September.  Dr Iyan Offor is a Lecturer in Law at Birmingham City University, conducting interdisciplinary, theoretical research  Last week was filled with international animal days, and next month we are hosting our annual Animal Rights Law Conference - who will be coming by?  #Conference #LawConference #CharityConference #Charity #CharityEvent #EducationalCharity #AnimalChar Please consider donating to support our work. REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1190232