Contributions to Conferences

• 2^nd Swiss Climate Summer School, ‘Climate Change: From the Dawn of the Anthropocene to Options for the Future’, Sept. 1-6, 2024, Grindelwald, organization of workshop Climate, Policy and Society: Climate Change and Law (together with Dr. Laurie Durel)
• GRC Visit, OCCR (Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research), 31 May 2024​, presenting The Role of Interdisciplinary Science in Climate Litigation (together with Prof. Christoph Raible)
• Animal Research Ethics & Law (AREL) Workshop​, Institute for Biomedical Ethics (IBMB), University of Basel​, May 30, 2024​, presenting The Law on Animal Research in Theory and Practice: Lessons from Switzerland
• Workshop ‘Animals in Political Decision-Making’, Université de Lausanne, May 29, 2024​, presenting From Constitutional Animal Law Toward Interspecies Constitutionalizing​
• Reparation for Climate Change: The Possibilities and Limits of Litigation​, University of Zurich, Apr. 11-12, 2024, presenting Assessing Legal Remedies in the Case KlimaSeniorinnen et al. v. Switzerland
• Animal Scales Series, UCL Anthropocene, Goldsmiths University, London, Mar. 21, 2024, presenting Animal Scales: Scale Global
• UCS’ Science Hub Webinar Series; Science in the Courtroom, Jan. 16, 2024, presenting Mediating the Science-Law Interface in Court: Third Party Intervention in the Climate Seniors Case
• Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Annual Seminar, “The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 1 Year On,” Newcastle University, June 22-23, 2023, presenting Four Decades of Recognizing Animal Sentience: Challenging or Feeding Institutional Denialism?
• OCCR Plenary Meeting Spring 2023, University of Bern, Feb. 14, 2023, presenting Lending Expertise to the Court: Third Party Intervention in the Climate Seniors Case
• Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in Practice, Scientific Research Network – Research Foundation Flanders (W002420N), Expert meeting on the justification of extraterritorial human rights obligations, Oct. 20-21, 2022, Brussels, presenting Jurisdiction in the Extraterritorial Context beyond International Human Rights Law
• Tom Regan Memorial Lecture, Oct. 17, 2022, presenting Transitional Justice and Animal Rights
• University of Bern, Bern, Workshop “Law & Sustainable Development”, Sept. 23, 2022, presenting Animals and Sustainable Development
• Workshop “Decolonial Interspecies Justice”, Antioch University New England, Keene NH, Sept. 3, 2022, presenting The Transformative Take on Transitional Interspecies Justice
• Ursula Brunner Workshop, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät UZH Zürich, May 17, 2022, presenting Socia-Media-Projekt der Rechtswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Bern
• Climate Youth Summit, UZH Irchel, Zürich, Apr. 2, 2022, presenting Climate Change and Human Rights Law
• Sustainability Week Basel, Lecture Series: Economics, Law and Climate Change, Mar. 24, 2022, presenting Climate Change and Human Rights Law
• University of Helsinki, Aniwere Seminar Series, Feb. 23, 2022, presenting Global Animal Law: A Critical Evaluation of the What, Why, and How
• Info-Abend zur Primateninitiative, Jan. 19, 2022, Vortragstitel: Rechtliche Aspekte der Forderung nach Primatengrundrechten
• Nonhuman Rights Project, Dec. 19, 2021, presenting Switzerland’s Historic Primate Rights Initiative
• DVG-Vet-Congress, Berlin, Nov. 19, 2021, presenting Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the Challenges of Globalization
• Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law & Harvard Law School, Animal Law & Policy Program, Workshop “Global Animal Law”, Nov. 12-13, 2021, presenting Transitional Justice and Animal Law
• Just Livestock Transition: A Game-Changing Solution to Food System Crisis, organized 50by40, Sept. 21, 2021, presenting On the Historical Emergence and Conceptual Justification of Just Transition
• OCCR Plenary Meeting Autumn 2021, University of Bern, Sept. 15, 2021, presenting Just Transition Beyond Coal: Exploring New Transformative Potential to Curb Climate Change
• Rottendorf Symposium 2021: Solidarity with Animals, LMU Munich, Sept. 3-4, 2021, presenting Solidarity as a Bridge toward Interspecies Justice? The Role of Law and Legal Theory
• EurSafe Conference 2021: Justice and Food Security in a Changing Climate, University of Fribourg,  June 24-26, 2021, presenting Food Security and Symbolic Legislation in Switzerland: A False Sense of Security? (together with Odile Ammann)
• EurSafe Conference 2021: Justice and Food Security in a Changing Climate, University of Fribourg, June 24-26, 2021, presenting Animals and Climate Change (together with Eva Meijer)
• Roundtable on Animal Labour in a Multispecies Society: A Social Justice Issue? May 1, 2021, hosted by the Global Research Network (GRN) Think Tank, held online, input comments on the status of working animals, labour rights and protections for working animals, relation to legal personhood, and human-animal labour as a potential site of interspecies justice
• Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), held online, Apr. 15, 2021, response to critics’ comments
• 1st International Human and Animal Rights Law Moot Court Competition, held online, Dec. 10, 2020, presenting The Interconnectedness of Racism and Speciesism in Animal Law
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, derecho Animal, Webinar Series on “Coronavirus and Animals. The human-animal relationship in pandemic society,” Barcelona, July 15, 2020, presenting From Zoonosis to Zoopolis
• Institute for Public Law, University of Bern, Bern CH, June 25, 2020, presenting Global Migration Crises, Non-human Animals, and the Role of Law
• Cambridge University, Faculty of Law, Cambridge UK, Mar. 3, 2020, presenting On the Ubiquity of Human-Animal Conflict and What Transitional Justice Can Contribute to Its Resolution
• Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Accelerating the Transition towards Animal-Free Innovations: Pioneer-2-Policymaker Conference, Utrecht Science Park, Utrecht, Nov. 27-29, 2019, presenting Task Force on Just Transition in Research
• Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program, Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA, Nov. 18, 2019, presenting Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders, discussion with Prof. Kristen Stilt
• Animals & Society Research Initiative, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Nov. 14, 2019, presenting Climate Emergency, Migration Crisis, and Interspecies Resilience
• Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Canadian Animal Law Conference, Halifax NB, Oct. 4-6, 2019, presenting Drafting Principles of Transitional Justice for a Postconflict Interspecies Society
• St. Edmund’s College and Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law, European Animal Rights Law Conference, Cambridge UK, Sept. 14-5, 2019, presenting The Swiss Primate Case – A Stroke of Luck or Justice in Action?
• MANCEPT Workshops, University of Manchester, “Just Animals? The Future of the Political Turn in Animal Ethics,” Manchester UK, Sept. 9-11, 2019, presenting Animal Labor – Ecosystem Services
• Münchner Kompetenzzentrum Ethik (LMU), “Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change,” Munich, Jun. 14, 2019, presenting Paradigmenwechsel mit oder ohne 3R? Eine rechtliche Analyse
• Canadian Law and Society Organization (CLSA), Annual Conference, panel “Shifting the Anthropocentric Violence of Canadian Liberal Legalism through Relationality, Redress and Reconciliation: Moving toward Harmonious Interspecies Relations,” Vancouver, Jun. 4, 2019, presenting Drafting Principles of Transitional Justice for a Postconflict Interspecies Society
• Harvard Law School, Animal Law and Policy Workshop, Cambridge MA, Apr. 23, 2019, presenting Animal Agriculture and Farmers’ Rights: A Human Rights Perspective (together with Odile Ammann)
• Queen’s University, Kingston Interspecies Community (KISC) research group workshop, Kingston ON, Mar. 22, 2019, presenting Animal Agency in Community: A Political Multispecies Ethnography of VINE Sanctuary (together with Sue Donaldson & Ryan Wilcox)
• University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College, 19th Annual OVC Animal Welfare Forum, Guelph ON, Oct. 11, 2018, presenting Animal Law: Status Quo, Limits, and Remedies
• Queen’s University, Ban Righ Centre, Ban Righ Speaker Series, Kingston ON, Oct. 12, 2018, presenting Animals, the Forgotten Proletariat
• Oxford University, Animal Ethics Summer School “Animal Ethics and Law: Creating Positive Change for Animals,” Oxford, Jul. 22-25, 2018, presenting Secondary Victimization of Animals in Criminal Procedure: The Example of Switzerland
• Tier-im-Fokus Vortragsreihe, Polit-Forum Bern im Käfigturm, Bern, Jun. 11, 2018, presenting Von der Nutztierhaltung zur Zoopolis
• Joint Meeting of the American Law and Society Organization (LSA) and Canadian Law and Society Organization (CLSA), Annual Meeting on Law and Society “Law at the Crossroads: Le droit à la coisée des chemins,” panel “Animals, Law and Subjectivity,” Toronto, Jun. 8, 2018, presenting Connecting Alienated Labour: Should Non-human Animals Have a Right to Work?
• Queen’s University, Workshop “Animal Labour: Ethical, Legal and Political Perspectives on Recognizing Animals’ Work,” Kingston ON, May 18, 2018, presenting Animal Workplace Democracy: Developing a Praxis of Self-Determination
• Queen’s University, Philosophy Colloquium, Kingston ON, Mar. 15, 2018, presenting “Animals Are (Forced) Workers, too” – Individual and Collective Self-determination of Working Animals
• Brock University, “Thinking About Animals,” St. Catharines ON (Mar. 1-2, 2018), Mar. 1, 2018, presenting Advocating for Animal Labour in an Age of Capitalism: A Paradox?
• Minding Animals International, Mexico City (Jan. 17-24, 2018), Jan. 18, 2018, presenting The Promise and Pitfalls of Treating Animals as Workers: Animal Labor from a Legal, Ethical and Political Perspective
• British Animal Studies Network, Southampton UK, Oct. 6-7, 2017, presenting The Achilles Heel of Animal Labour: Are Farm Animals Workers?
• European Society of International Law, “Interest Group on Feminism,” Naples, Italy, Sept. 6, 2017, presenting Blind Spots of Global Animal Law: What Can Feminist Care Theory Teach Us? (together with Odile Ammann)
• European Society of International Law, “Interest Group on International Environmental Law,” Naples, Italy, Sept. 6, 2017, presenting Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Animal Agriculture and Farmer Rights in the Light of International Human Rights Law (together with Odile Ammann)
• 10th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Seattle WA, Aug. 20-24, 2017, presenting Can Harm-Benefit Analyses Mature into Less Structurally Biased Concepts to Meet Societal Demands for Replacement?
• TEDxBasel, Basel, Jun. 11, 2017, 3 minute pop up talk Animals Are Workers, Too
• Ontario Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services, “Animal Welfare Symposium,” Toronto, May 15-6, 2017, presenting Law on Exotics in Comparative Perspective
• Harvard Law School, “Harvard Workshop on Animal Agriculture from the Middle East to Asia,” Cambridge MA, May 11-12, 2017, presenting Tackling Concentrated Animal Agriculture in the Middle East through Standards of Investment, Export Credits, and Trade
• Pace University, “Animal Law Conference,” New York NY, Oct. 7-9, 2016, presenting Animal Law Beyond Borders: Terra Incognita
• Animal Law Review Symposium, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland OR, Mar. 11, 2016, presenting An Assessment of Recent Trade Law Developments from an Animal Law Perspective – With a Focus on the GATT, the TBT, and the SPS
• Effective Altruism Foundation, University of Basel, “Effective Altruism Global X,” Sept. 5, 2015, presenting Effective Altruism in Legal Scholarship (With a Focus on Animal Law)
• The International Society of Public Law ICON-S Conference 2015, “Public Law in an Uncertain World,” NYU, New York NY, Jul. 1-3, 2015, presenting the paper How Animal Law Formed at the Intersection of International Public and Trade Law Brings about Institutional Change
• Arbeitskreis junger Völkerrechtlerinnen, “International Law and Domestic Law-Making Processes,” University of Basel, Basel, Sept. 4, 2015, presenting the poster The Paradoxical Contribution of Trade Law to the Formation of Global Animal Law: The Sheep in the Wolf’s Clothing?
• Stiftung Bündnis Mensch & Tier, Messerli Research Institute, University of Vienna, Interdisciplinary PhD/PostDoc Conference, “The Human-Animal Bond,” University of Vienna, Vienna, Jul. 18-19, 2014, presenting my dissertation project
• Interdisciplinary, 1st Global Conference “Making Sense of: The Animal and Human Bond,” Oxford, Jul. 13-15, 2014, presenting the chapter 3R for Farmed Animals – A Legal Argument for Consistency

Guest Lectures

For guest lectures, see Teaching.

Conference organization

Climate Change and Subsidies: What Reforms Are Needed?

Switzerland is dedicated to achieving net zero by 2050. Thus far, little attention has been paid to subsidies in the climate law debate, especially in domestic law contexts. Are reforms to subsidy practices and the broader state incentive structure necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement? How should these be designed and what legal, economic, political, behavioral, and other premises need to be taken into account? This conference is intended to provide a platform for such questions by, on the one hand, discussing the compatibility of the current subsidy orientation of the Swiss federal government, cantons and municipalities with limiting global warming. On the other hand, the conference focuses on the design of specific subsidies to protect the climate – for example in the areas of renewable energies, mobility, and agriculture. The event is aimed at a broadly interested audience from academia, practice, and politics and comprises two parts: A morning of plenary lectures and an afternoon of interdisciplinary workshops where specific issues will be explored in depth in smaller groups. The conference is organized by the Institute of Public Law (Charlotte Elisabeth Blattner, Peter Bieri, Judith Wyttenbach and Markus Kern) and the Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research (OCCR) of the University of Bern. The one-day conference will take place on October 20, 2023 at the University of Bern, UniS, S003. Link to the registration. See further the flyer for the event and the detailed program. Speakers:

Animals, Climate Change and Global Health