Second annual conference tackles cruel UK public policy system

March 25, 2026

On November 21st 2025 we jointly hosted, with The Schweitzer Institute, our second annual conference towards eradicating the systemic failures in UK animal protection policy-making, particularly through the establishment of a new UK Government Animal Protection Commission.

Held once again at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity, the conference was titled: ‘Promoting Responsible Governance of Animal Protection: Policy Reform for an Ethical Future’. We were honoured, once again, to be joined by a range of leading animal protection NGOs, academic animal protection experts, plus Adrian Ramsay MP who leads for the Green Party in parliament on animal issues. The inspiring gathering examined the need for better animal protection governance from a range of viewpoints: ethical and meta-ethical, public policy and political philosophy, economic and legal.

The event was introduced by Benedict Rattigan, Director of The Schweitzer Institute,who summarised the groundbreaking theme of the day’s proceedings and explained the connections between ethical animal protection governance and Albert Schweitzer’s ‘reverence for life’ philosophy. The first lecture proper was given by Professor Allen Thompson, the 2025 Schweitzer Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge, who provided insights into some of the ethical and philosophical foundations that underpin the practical goal of an Animal Protection Commission. In particular, he discussed different conceptions of ‘anthropocentrism’ and their negative and positive implications.

Gisella Marinuzzi from The Schweitzer Institute spoke next with a progress update on the collaboration with the CASJ to research and develop our Animal Protection Commission policy idea. The CASJ’s Dr Dan Lyons followed this up with a lecture that drew on his social science expertise to explain the necessity of institutionalising animal protection within our political system to overcome the dominance of cruel public policies.

Edie Bowles from the Animal Law Foundation then explained how her charity undertakes legal research and action to have a positive impact on policy. The negative impact of the UK Government’s post-Brexit trade policy was the subject of the subsequent lecture by Charlotte Flores from Bryant Research.

Next up was Dr Sean Butler from The University of Cambridge to discuss incremental implementation as a strategic approach to advancing animal rights law, succeeded by Green Party MP Adrian Ramsay who talked about the opportunities and threats in the Government’s forthcoming animal welfare strategy. The political philosopher Dr Pablo Magaña Fernández followed up with an analysis of how increased political polarization can hinder, or potentially help, the already-challenging task to restructure political institutions so that they represent nonhuman animals.

The penultimate paper was presented by the environmental ethicist Professor Clare Palmer, who spoke about the particularly complex ethical and ecological dilemmas faced by efforts to improve wild animal protection. Dr Matthew Sims gave the final full lecture that developed a new basis for biocentric ethics: an enlarged concept of personhood founded on the biological capacities of flourishing and autonomy.

All the presentations, including Benedict Rattigan’s concluding remarks, can be viewed at The Schweitzer Institute’s website. Next year’s conference will take place in Cambridge on Friday 20th November, further details about venue and speakers will be announced in due course.