Conference 2024

The Helsinki Animal Law Centre invited abstracts from established and junior scholars interested in presenting and discussing their research at the upcoming Helsinki Animal Law Conference, taking place on the 13th and 14th of August in 2024 at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The Conference seeks to explore the features and foundations of animal law, from both an analytical and a normative point of view.  

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• The legal status of animals  
• The interaction between animal law and other fields of research 
• The general principles of animal law 
• The debate over animal rights, personhood, and the welfarist regime  
• Emerging topics in animal law, such as animal agency, animal labour, Rights of Nature

PhD Work-in-Progress Workshop: 

PhD candidates also have the option to present at the PhD Workshop, which will precede the conference and take place on August 12, 2024, at the University of Helsinki. The PhD Workshop is an opportunity for early-career scholars to present and discuss their papers in a more intimate setting with more time for discussions and feedback. The workshop will be pre-read, and participants will receive feedback from each other and from the members of the Helsinki Animal Law Centre.

The language of the conference is English, and we expect the conference format to be fully in-person.

The keynote presentations in the 2024 Conference will be held by Kristen Stilt from Harvard University and Raffael Fasel from University of Cambridge.