Sentience - Where Does Sentience Start?

AWSELVA held its 2018 UK conference in London and focussed on animal sentience in relation to animal welfare law and ethics.

The conference was held at Mary Sumner House, Westminster, 12th September 2018 10.00am - 4.30pm

Speakers at the conference were:

Professor Donald Broom, Professor of Animal Welfare (Emeritus) in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge

Peter Jinman OBE, Lay Member, Chair of FAWC, past president of both BVA and RCVS​

David Williams, Associate Lecturer, The Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, University of Cambridge

Helen Lambert, Global expert on animal sentience, published scientist and accomplished researcher in animal welfare science, formerly Sentience Manager at World Animal Protection

Dr.iur. Antoine F. Goetschel, President, founder and CEO of the Global Animal Law Project, International Consultant in Ethics and Law, Animal Advocate – Zurich, Switzerland

Ruth Layton, Group Sustainability Director at BMK Holdings, founder of the Food Animal Initiative.

The conference also included a panel discussion and the AGM.

See the pdf file at the bottom of the page for a summary of the day. 

Schedule

9.30 -10.00Registration
10.00 - 10.45Professor Donald Broom: Sentience: Where does it start?
10.45 - 11.15Peter Jinman: Sentience – politics, biology and law
11.15 - 11.30Coffee break
11.30 - 12.00Dr David Williams - Sentience in snails, pain in prawns, consciousness in cephalopods - (what)  do invertebrates feel and think?
12.00 - 12.30Helen Lambert - Exploring the emotional lives of wild animals, and what it means for their welfare
12.30 - 14.00Lunch
13.00 - 14.00AGM
14.00 - 14.30Dr. iur. Antoine Goetschel - Where does Sentience feature in the Law worldwide?
14.30 - 15.00Ruth Layton - Where does sentience start? A Paradigm shift
15.00 - 16.30Panel discussion
16.30Chairman's summary
16.35Conference closes - Gathering for drinks afterwards

Files