Author's Roundtable: Theory, Wildlife and the Law

Recording

Hosts

• The Multispecies Collective

• The International Journal of Wildlife Law & Policy

• The Global Research Network

About

Join us for an engaging online roundtable exploring how theory shapes international wildlife law in response to ecological and animal welfare crises. Featuring scholars from the Theory, Wildlife, and the Law special issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, this event delves into how legal frameworks can evolve through theory-informed approaches.

Speakers will present key insights from their research, followed by an open discussion with academic discussants and the audience. Whether you're passionate about wildlife conservation, environmental law, or emerging legal thought, this session offers fresh perspectives from leading scholars.

This event explores what may be regarded as an emerging theoretical turn in international wildlife law scholarship in response to the ecological crises of the Anthropocene and the crisis of animal welfare. It focuses on how theory can be engaged to inspire legal change, making the case for more theory-informed wildlife law scholarship.

This roundtable features research from the Theory, Wildlife, and the Law special issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy. Each contributor will share the key contributions from their work before the event opens to academic discussants and the audience for an interactive conversation and Q&A.

Programme

Hosts’ Welcome (5 minutes)

• Richard Caddell – JIWLP Editor-in-Chief, Reader, Cardiff University

• Yoriko Otomo – Director, Global Research Network

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Iyan Offor – JIWLP Special Issue Editor, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham City University

International Wildlife Law’s Theoretical Turn: Authors’ Presentations (1 hour 20 minutes)

• Alice Di Concetto – Chief Legal Adviser, The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy – Beyond Ecological and Economic Value: Taking into Account Wild Animals’ Inherent Interests in EU Environmental Law

• Veerle Platvoet – PhD Researcher, University of Helsinki – Growth from Common Ground: Animal Welfare in Wild Animal Law

• Katy Sowery – Lecturer, University of Liverpool – A Walk on the Wild Side: Wild Law and the EU’s Nature Restoration Law

• Elien Verniers – Postdoctoral Researcher, Ghent University – Exploring a Legal Framework for Compassionate Conservation: Guidance from the Deep Ecology Movement

• Hakon Evjemo – PhD Researcher, University of Dundee – Delivering Spatial Justice to Wildlife: Merleau-Ponty and the Politics of Inhabitation

• Saskia Vermeylen – Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Strathclyde – Relational Interdependence: Riffing on Margaret Davies’ EcoLaw: Legality, Life, and the Normativity of Nature through the Poetics of Relations and Symbiotic Knowing

• Romain Chuffart – Nansen Professor in Arctic Studies, University of Akureyri (Iceland) – Of Kins and Laws on a Burning Earth with Matilda Arvidsson and Emily Jones’ International Law and Posthuman Theory

Q&A (30 minutes)

Discussants (15 minutes)

• Matilda Arvidsson – Associate Professor (Docent) in International Law and Assistant Senior Lecturer in Jurisprudence, University of Gothenburg

• Emily Jones – NUAcT Fellow, Newcastle University

Audience Q&A (15 minutes)