Helsinki Animal Law Conference 2026: “Reimagining Justice Across Species”

The , together with the and projects, invite abstracts from established and junior scholars interested in presenting and discussing their research at the 4th Helsinki Animal Law Conference taking place on June 9-10, 2026 at the University of Helsinki, Finland, with a PhD workshop on June 8. The conference seeks to explore the intersection of human, animal, and environmental justice as well as the role of animal law scholarship and advocacy in the age of the Anthropocene.

The planet is in a crisis severely impacting the rights and wellbeing of humans, nonhuman animals, and the environment. Animal law has traditionally been defined in opposition to other fields of law such as human rights law and environmental law insofar as the latter often disregard the interests and subjectivity of individual sentient nonhumans. However, the present polycrisis as well as recent trends in academia call into question whether justice for nonhuman animals can and ought to be pursued separately from nature and humanity.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:  

• New and emerging frameworks such as Rights of Nature, Multispecies Justice, and One Rights
• Animal law and the polycrisis (e.g. climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution)
• Impacts of the just green transition on different species and their inclusion in the transition
• Indigenous and other non-Western approaches and perspectives
• Synergies between animal law and other social justice movements
• Innovative approaches to animal litigation and advocacy
• Animal agency and representation 

Beyond these special themes, we welcome any and all submissions concerning the legal status of nonhuman animals more generally.   

PhD Workshop  

PhD candidates also have the option of presenting at the PhD Workshop preceding the conference on 8 June 2026. The PhD Workshop provides 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. Please note that PhD candidates are also welcome to submit abstracts to the main conference.

Submission guidelines 

Researchers at all stages of their careers are invited to submit 300-500-word abstracts by the 31st of January 2026. We kindly ask applicants to submit their work either for the conference or the PhD workshop.

Registration 

The conference will have a registration fee of roughly €150-200 with a reduced fee of €100-150 (PhD candidates and students). The registration fee includes lunches, coffee, and the conference dinner.  

Registration opens in March 2026, and we will announce the speaker selections by the end of February. 

The language of the conference is English, and we expect the conference format to be fully in-person, taking place at the University of Helsinki.