Events
Upcoming
LSE Festival 2026: How to save the planet
LSE's public research festival - free and open to all
LSE campus
15 June - 20 June 2026
Members of the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience are contributing to events highlighted below.
How to save the planet | LSE Festival exhibition; in-person public event. This exhibition will feature a poster from Veterinary Policy Research Fellow, Dr Steven McCulloch, on the theme 'Holding those with power to account'.
The Green Shoots of the New Economy; in-person and online public event. Advisory Board member, Dr Frederic Basso will contribute to a panel discussion on whether SME and large private firms and financial actors can develop solutions not just in technology, but by more radically rethinking their social form and purpose. Is it actually possible for firms and finance to buck the trend of destructive economic activity, and if so, how? What challenges do these emergent actors face in scaling up those activities, and what do those challenges teach us about the next steps we need to take to develop a less destructive, altogether more regenerative form of economic activity and thought?
Food futures; in-person and online public event. Our Human Behaviours and Attitudes Research Officer, Dr Feiyang Wang, will contribute to a panel discussion on our current food system, a leading cause of biodiversity loss, global warming and public health risks. Weaving together diverse but complementary perspectives and areas of focus around the common themes of sustainability, health, and wellbeing, this panel discussion will address the ethical, logistical, and technical challenges of transitioning to a more planet-friendly food system.
Past events and engagements
2025-26
Common Ground on Animal Ethics - When Anthropology Meets Philosophy
This workshop built on the growing strengths in animal ethics research at LSE -particularly within the Philosophy Department’s Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience and the Anthropology Department’s ongoing work on ethics and human-animal relations. Supported by Professor Catherine Allerton, it brought together established philosophers and anthropologists into conversation with early career scholars, creating a platform for shared inquiry, debate, and future collaboration.
This event was hosted by the Department of Anthropology, co-sponsored by The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience.
Dr Feiyang Wang and Kristina Kiminiute contributed a research poster presentation during the CARMA Conference 2026 - an event aimed at a multidisciplinary audience interested in active debate on cellular agriculture. Their poster covered some early findings of a mixed-method research project, involving interviews and quantitative surveys.
Dr Steven McCulloch featured as a keynote speaker during the Caring Vets Conference 2026. His talk explored veterinary professional codes of conduct, focusing on commitments to animal welfare and the public interest. He highlighted that institutional policy positions often align closely with existing production systems, and emphasised the importance of ensuring that values, policy, and practice are aligned.
Animal economics
In this public lecture, Professor Nicolas Treich presented the main arguments of his Animal Economics book; this explores the complexity of human attitudes toward animals and combines this with economic theory to show how we can understand animal welfare as an externality and thereby incorporate animals into decisions. After the book presentation, a panel furthered explored the themes of the book.
We co-hosted this event alongside the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Global School of Sustainability.
The 4th International Online Conference on Animals (IOCAN) 2026 included a keynote session from our Veterinary Policy Research Fellow, Dr Steven McCulloch, on the topic "Captured or Independent? Veterinary Institutions, Animal Welfare Science, and the Politics of Farmed Animal Welfare and Meat Reduction".
The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) 2026 included a panel discussion featuring our Animals and AI Research Officer, Dr Natasha Boyland, on the topic "Sentient Beings: What science and AI reveal about farmed animals". The panel explore how rapidly developing AI technologies could influence our understanding of animal sentience and shape future policy and practice - bringing opportunity and risks.
Saving Britain's Wildlife
This public lecture covered stories from the frontline of the fight to restore wild Britain. An expert panel brought to life the ethics of conservation in the real world: when should we intervene and when should we leave "wild nature" alone? When conflicts between economic and environmental interests emerge, how should they be handled? How can scientists involve local communities in conservation to avoid tensions and build coalitions? Does a focus on large animals lead to undervaluing tiny animals, like insects, or can we help both at once? And since wild nature involves a lot of suffering, do we have to choose between prioritizing animal welfare and prioritizing biodiversity?
This event was Chaired by our Centre Director, Professor Jonathan Birch, hosted by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS), Global School of Sustainability and Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method.
The London Vet Show 2025 hosted a panel discussion including our Centre Director, Professor Jonathan Birch, on the topic "AI on farms - is it good for vets and animal welfare?". The panel discuss emerging technologies, their use in farming and what the future could look like - covering opportunities and risks.
Launch event and panel: How AI is helping - and harming - animals
This event marked the launch of the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience. The programme opened with remarks from Professor Roman Frigg, Head of Department (LSE Philosophy), followed by an introduction from Larry Kramer, President and Vice Chancellor of LSE. Jeremy Coller, whose generous donation made the Centre possible, then offered opening reflections before Centre Director Professor Jonathan Birch introduced the Centre’s mission.
We then moved into an expert panel discussion focussing on our Animals and AI research priority area. An area of notable public concern; AI is transforming the lives of animals at speed, but these huge impacts are going unnoticed and unregulated. Some of the changes could transform our relationships with our fellow creatures for the better, whereas others could make existing animal welfare problems much worse and even more deeply entrenched. How can we curb the risks and take the opportunities?