We are delighted to announce Melanie Challenger and Kim Stallwood as keynote speakers for the 6th UK Animal Law Conference, in addition to Kathy Hessler, as previously announced.

The conference theme is The Future of Animal Law and takes place on 3-4 June at the University of Birmingham, UK. It is is co-organised by A-LAW and The Multispecies Collective, based at the University of Birmingham Law School.

Melanie Challenger writes, researches and broadcasts on the history of ideas, the history and philosophy of science and the relationship between humans and the living world. She is the author of How to Be Animal: What it Means to Be Human, among other works, and host of the podcast The Psychosphere. Melanie is internationally active in bioethics, Vice President of the RSPCA, and co-director of Animals in the Room. She is also an award-winning poet and librettist for opera and oratorios, and a National Geographic Explorer. Melanie’s keynote address is entitled: Towards a Foundation of Agency.

Kim Stallwood is an animal rights author, curator, and independent scholar with 50 years of personal commitment as a vegan and professional experience in leadership positions with some of the world’s leading animal advocacy organisations. The British Library in London acquired the Kim Stallwood Archive in 2020. Tier im Recht, the Zurich-based animal law organisation, established the Kim Stallwood Collection in 2022. He is writing the biography of Topsy, the female Asian elephant electrocuted to death on Coney Island, New York, in 1903. He is a member of the Culture & Animals Foundation advisory board. Kim’s keynote address is entitled: Preserving the History of Animal Law and Animal Rights.

Kathy is Assistant Dean for Animal Law, Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative at the George Washington University Law School, and has been a clinical law professor for more than 30 years and has been teaching animal law since 2000. She is the first law professor in the world hired to teach animal law full-time. She helped develop the Center for Animal Law Studies, the Animal Law Clinic, and the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative at Lewis & Clark Law School. At GW Law she created programs focusing on aquatic animals, legal education, law and science, and partnerships across the globe.

With this exciting line-up of keynote speakers added to the conference, we have also extended our deadline to 4th February 12.00 Noon GMT to allow our network one more week to consider submitting an abstract.

Interested in attending or speaking at the conference? The Call for Papers now open until 4th February 2026 12.00 Noon GMT. Send your abstracts to [email protected] by the deadline. Visit alaw.org.uk/animal-law-conference for more information.

Conference registration will open early 2026.