International

Global Research Network

The Global Research Network Think Tank is delighted to be a host for the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights. Our Programme on Animals & Biodiversity is run by academics from around the world, undertaking deep dives into some of most pressing concerns around human-animal relations today. We support early career academics to publish, connect, and access funding opportunities, and welcome all academics and policy experts to join and collaborate with us.
 

WMILAR’s ethos of diversity and excellence resonates closely with our own, and we hope that in providing a platform and support for emerging animal lawyers in both the Global North and South, we can contribute in some small way to a better future for our shared world.

Region 1: Northern America

Animal Law & Policy Institute, Vermont Law & Graduate School [host for 2024]

Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders to advance animals’ legal status through education, scholarship, policy development, community engagement, and litigation. Engaging with advocacy organizations, communities, journalists, and policymakers, the Institute serves as a resource hub for animal law and policy issues. 

The Animal Law and Policy Institute is dedicated to supporting aspiring animal advocates through rigorous coursework in law and master’s degree programs, rewarding mentorships, and real-world trainings and experiences. We collaborate closely with the school’s other leading programs–including environmental law and policy, agriculture and food, and restorative justice–recognizing the interconnections between justice movements, animals, humans, and the environment.

George Washington Law, The George Washington University [host for 2025]


Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis & Clark Law School [prospective host for 2026]

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, USA, represents the epicenter of animal law education worldwide. Founded in 2008, CALS has advanced numerous firsts in the field. Today, it is home to: the world’s first animal law program; the first legal journal dedicated exclusively to animal law (the Animal Law Review), the first animal law student organization (the Lewis & Clark Animal Legal Defense Fund), the world’s longest-running animal law conference, and the world’s first Dean of Animal Law.

A trailblazer, CALS offers a robust curriculum with more than 25 distinct animal law course offerings, as well as numerous animal law degree offerings, including: the Certificate in Animal Law for JD students; the Animal Law LLM (offered in-person and online); the Animal Law MSL for non-lawyers (offered in-person and online); and a newly launched Animal Law SJD (offered in-person only). Through leadership and innovation, CALS has extended the reach of animal law while advancing animal protection internationally with its alumni from over 25 countries.

Region 2: Latin America and the Caribbean

Faculty of Law, University of Chile [host for 2024]

The University of Chile School of Law provides a vanguard education with a strong public vocation, based on academic excellence, academic freedom and pluralism, training people to serve in the various legal professions, as well as in other areas of development, such as politics, diplomacy, philosophy, history and literature. The classrooms and corridors of the Faculty have witnessed the forging of men and women of law who were and will continue to be protagonists of the republican history of our country. The generation of knowledge is reflected in the work of our programs and research centers in diverse areas, such as human rights, argumentation, indigenous rights and interculturalism, environment, justice, new technologies and economic regulation. In relation to Animal Law, the Faculty has conducted several refresher courses and a thesis workshop on the subject. Our intellectual production also influences the processes of legal reform, the design of public policies and, in general, the intellectual debates that are held both nationally and in the region. The members of our faculty are some of the most renowned lawyers in the country, as well as outstanding researchers. Throughout the academic year, multiple activities are organized by both professors and students of the Faculty, whose themes are always in tune with the contingency and interests of the country. The close relationship between the Law School of the University of Chile and the history of the country shows that this school is part of the fundamental republican definitions in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.

Núcleo de Pesquisas em Direito Animal (ZOOPOLIS), Federal University of Paraná [host for 2025]

The Federal University of Paraná, founded in 1912, has its headquarters in the city of Curitiba, State of Paraná. At its Faculty of Law, teaching, research and extension activities have been carried out in the area of Animal Law since 2018. In the Law course, the semester course on Animal Law is offered to undergraduate students. In the postgraduate course in Law, in addition to being offered a specific subject in the area, it is also possible to be guided in the master’s and doctoral courses in Law, with a focus on Animal Law. There is already a record of post-doctoral studies completed in the area of Animal Law. Furthermore, the postgraduate program in Law (PPGD-UFPR) has a Research Center in Animal Law, known by the acronym ZOOPOLIS. In the field of extension, there is the Animal Law Extension Program, linked to the Faculty of Law, which develops projects with the community for education and expansion of Brazilian Animal Law. Three Animal Law Seminars have already been held and the UFPR Editora has already published, in 2022, a collection of studies entitled “Animal Law: interlocutions with other fields of legal knowledge”, with articles by several renowned Law professors.

Region 3: Sub-Saharan Africa

Global Environmental Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape [host for 2024]

The University of the Western Cape’s Global Environmental Law Centre (GELC) is delighted to be a host for the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights.
Based at the Faculty of Law, and affiliated to the Department of Public Law and Jurisprudence, we strive for globally impactful research, teaching and knowledge exchange in a wide range of interconnected areas of global environmental law and governance.
Our research and teaching activities specifically aim to develop reflexive and responsive legal frameworks and governance structures fit for responding to the local and transboundary social, economic and environmental consequences of earth system changes in the Anthropocene.
We are particularly interested in matters related to climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean governance, sustainable urbanisation,  Earth Jurisprudence, Righs of Nature and reconceptualising human and non- human environmental rights as it relates to justice. 
Our centre offers a master degree in the field(s) of environmental law, climate change and animal rights law. Students also have the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies in a wide range of interconnected areas relevant to justice movements, animals, humans, Nature, and the environment. WMILAR’s ethos of diversity and excellence resonates closely with our own, and we hope that in providing a platform and support for emerging animal lawyers in both the Global North and South, we can contribute in some small way to a better future for our shared world. We welcome all emerging and established academics to publish, connect, and pursue funding opportunities with us.
We also invite NGOs, government officials, legal practitioners and policy experts to join and collaborate with us.

Region 4: Northern, Western, and Southern Europe

Helsinki Animal Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki [host for 2024]

The Helsinki Animal Law Centre operates under the auspices of the University of Helsinki Faculty of Law. Originating in the research project Animals under a Welfarist Regime (ANIWERE, 2019-2024) which sought to uncover the foundations and general principles of animal law, the Centre brings together scholars and other people interested in animal law as well as organizing monthly seminars and other events on animal law, such as the Helsinki Animal Law Conference.

Animals, Nature & Society Research Cluster, Centre for Human Rights, Birmingham City University, School of Law, Birmingham City University [host for 2025]

Birmingham City University’s College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice hosts a cluster of researchers working on Law, Nature and Society. This cluster includes various academic staff and PhD students researching, teaching, and working to impact policy development on animal law at a domestic, regional and international level. Our animal law research incorporates topics including: animal law and social justice, animal law’s relationship with environmental law, animal law and (critical) theory, animal rights, animals in research, and wildlife law. You can find out more about our research here, with some recent publications available herehere, and here. We have a growing offering of courses and modules that incorporate animal law in the college. Our undergraduate LLB’s include animal law topics within modules on Critical Legal Theory and Jurisprudence. Our LLM programme includes a module on Human Rights and the Environment which incorporates animal rights deeply into its curriculum. And, we have a growing PhD programme on animal law and environmental law, with six students currently engaged in doctoral research in these areas. Our researchers are involved in various animal law research and advocacy networks, working in particular to incorporate animal welfare into policymaking at the UN.

Region 5: Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Northern Africa

Faculty of Law Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek [host for 2024]

Faculty of Law Osijek was founded in 1975 and is one of the oldest components of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek.
The Faculty’s mission is to attain excellence in scientific research and teaching processes with the aim of continuous development and advancement of activities in all of its constituent units and in lifelong learning, providing students with knowledge and skills that meet the challenges of modern society.
The Faculty’s vision is to become an influential higher education institution, recognisable as a socially responsible organisation that provides superior education and research and advances knowledge, justice and public welfare in the country and the world.
The elective course Animal Law is offered to Law students in 9th semester and is also open to other University students since 2015.

Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia in Katowice [host for 2025]

Region 6: Southern Asia

National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University [host for 2024]

The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) was established in 1998 by a Statute of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Since its inception, the University has been home to vital conversations on law and justice. NALSAR is also home to the Animal Law Centre (ALC). ALC is India’s 1st Research centre for Animal law and policy at #NALSAR University of Law in collaboration with @hsi_india, @pfa.official and @fishwelfare NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad

Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University [host for 2025]

Established in 2009, O.P. Jindal Global University (‘JGU’) is recognised as an Institution of Eminence by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. It is also ranked the No. 1 Private University in India in the Q.S. World University Rankings 2023. Through its interdisciplinary curriculum, O.P. Jindal Global University offers a comprehensive education that transcends traditional boundaries and prepares students for a rapidly evolving world. JGU commenced its inaugural academic session in 2009, establishing the first global law school in India – Jindal Global Law School (‘JGLS’). JGLS is dedicated to providing its students with world-class legal education with a global perspective. JGLS fosters curriculum, research, and collaborations of the highest standards with a global perspective through a faculty drawn from and educated worldwide. It provides hands-on learning opportunities through internships, community service, research projects, and other experiential activities that allow students to apply their knowledge and skills. Jindal has a thriving community of students with a variety of societies indulging in arts, culture, sports, and various national and international competitions.

JGU has collaborations with over 155 universities and institutions from over 36 countries, with over 90 faculty members from the World’s top 100 universities, and has hosted over 600 lectures, seminars, workshops, and conferences in the last six years.

Region 7: Eastern and South-Eastern Asia

Region 8: Oceania

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