Multispecies Collective PhD Workshop

Following the success of our inaugural PhD workshop in 2025, we are delighted to present the 2nd Multispecies Collective PhD Workshop. Join this one-day interdisciplinary event bringing postgraduate and senior researchers together to explore methods, challenges, and interdisciplinary connections in multispecies approaches to research through presentations, discussion, and collaborative workshops.

Call for Papers

We are accepting applications to present at the workshop! Our call for papers has all the details and applications close Friday 24th April.

Registration

Registration will open shortly after our call for papers closes. For now, save the date (Tuesday 2nd June 2026) and look out for our communications when registration opens at the beginning of May.

Theme 

Talking across disciplines: methods, challenges and interdisciplinary connections in multispecies approaches to research

About

This one-day workshop invites PhD researchers to explore how multispecies research is shaped by different disciplinary methods, assumptions, and challenges. Bringing together scholars from across the arts, humanities, and social sciences in a supportive environment, the event aims to create an inclusive and developmental space for sharing work, exchanging ideas, and building interdisciplinary connections.

The workshop will combine short research presentations with detailed feedback and open discussion, as well as interactive workshops. Alongside sharing research findings or work in progress, participants will be invited to reflect collectively on methodological choices, disciplinary tensions, practical research challenges, and possibilities for connection across fields. The workshop is intended not only as a platform for presenting research, but also as a developmental and collaborative space for learning from one another’s processes, difficulties, and approaches.

Details

Date: Tuesday 2nd June 2026

Host: Multispecies Collective

Venue: Westmere House, University of Birmingham

Funded by: Midlands4Cities Cohort Development Fund

The workshop will take place in the beautiful Westmere House providing comfortable, relaxed space backing onto gardens providing the perfect green backdrop to discuss issues of multispecies flourishing. Vegan catering will be available for all attendees and certificates of participation will be awarded to all presenters. The venue will be fully wheelchair accessible via ramps and lifts, with an accessible bathroom on site. Please contact us if you have any accessibility needs that we can assist you with.

Programme

The final programme will be released closer to the time, but participants can expect:

• Expert facilitators and discussants including members of the Multispecies Collective and a further mix of researchers from across various disciplines working on issues of multispecies flourishing and tailored to the disciplinary expertise of the presenters.

• Presentations of various formats with open discussion, feedback and brainstorming with experts, other presenters, and attendees.

• Interactive workshops focusing on themes such as: building multispecies theoretical, conceptual and ethical foundations across disciplinary knowledges; interdisciplinary methods in multispecies research and associated tensions; challenges of working across disciplinary boundaries; approaching questions of impact for multispecies communities.

• You are welcome to read about our 2025 workshop for more details about what to expect.

Multispecies Flourishing Week

This is the first of three research events hosted by the Multispecies Collective taking place at the University of Birmingham campus as part of Multispecies Flourishing Week. You are welcome to register for our other events:

• The UK Animal Law Conference 2026 (co-hosted with the UK Centre for Animal Law)

• The inaugural International Aquaculture Law & Policy Symposium (presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies and co-hosted with the Aquatic Life Institute)