About

Research on animals’ needs, feelings and capabilities has important implications for ethics, policy, and law

The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience is housed at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). LSE is a world-class research institution, where real-world betterment underpins all research activity and global reputation.

The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience was made possible through a multi-year commitment of £4 million from the Jeremy Coller Foundation, who seek to create positive impact on globally critical issues through strategic action, collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

When speaking about the launch of the centre, LSE President and Vice-Chancellor Larry Kramer said: "The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience is in perfect keeping with LSE’s tradition of supporting research, teaching, and thoughtful policy on important subjects that don’t always get the attention they deserve. Research on animals’ needs, feelings and capabilities has important implications for ethics, policy, and law".

Key to the centre is the inaugural director, Professor Jonathan Birch, who specialises in the philosophy of biological sciences. Professor Birch is a faculty member within LSE’s renowned Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method and a recognised leader in animal sentience, cognition and welfare. You can read more via his website.

Our Mission

Together, we share a mission of delivering high-quality research for positive impact. Enacting our mission, we bring together a unique interdisciplinary community of thought leaders across philosophy, veterinary medicine, evolutionary biology, comparative psychology, neuroscience, behavioural science, computer science, artificial intelligence, economics and law.

We aim to develop new approaches to studying the feelings of other animals scientifically and use the emerging science of animal sentience to design better policies, laws and ways of caring for other animals.