Constitutional Animal Rights Law
Online Workshop
25—26 June 2026
Explore an emerging field. Build concrete skills. Learn from comparative practice.
How can constitutional law be used to build stronger legal protection for animals? Can constitutional law help make animals’ interests and rights matter in practice? How have different jurisdictions used constitutional norms to protect animals? Through case studies from Brazil, South Africa, India, Finland, and Ecuador, and drawing on sentience-based constitutional theory, this workshop explores how constitutional animal rights law can move from legal theory to litigation, reform, and advocacy.
This two-half-day online workshop offers a comparative and practice-oriented exploration of constitutional animal rights law, an emerging and still undertaught subfield of animal rights law. It is designed for participants who want to understand the field better and to think more practically about how constitutional ideas can be used in research, legal practice, policy work, advocacy, and reform efforts.
Across two half-days, participants will move from key concepts and comparative case studies to questions of implementation and constitutional design, before applying these insights in a guided ‘mini-lab’.
Whether you are newer to constitutional animal rights law or already working in law, litigation, policy, research, education, or advocacy, this workshop will help you build knowledge, compare legal systems, and strengthen your legal and strategic thinking.
About the Workshop
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Format
Online via Zoom.
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Date & time
25—26 June 2026, 16:00—20:30 CEST (Paris time) each day.
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Language
English
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Capacity
Maximum 30 participants.
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Learning time
Around 25 hours, including 9 hours of live sessions (lectures and mini lab), plus readings.
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Workshop fee
100 EUR for the two half-days. Scholarships are available, with priority given to Majority World applicants.
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Registration deadline
10 June 2026.
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Certificate
To receive a certificate of completion, participants must:
- attend both workshop days; and
- complete the mini-lab exercise.
What participants will gain
By the end of the workshop, participants should be better able to:
Identify and compare a range of constitutional approaches relevant to animals across different jurisdictions
Understand more clearly how constitutional norms and arguments relating to animals can operate in practice.
Draw practical lessons from the case studies presented during the workshop for their own research, teaching, or advocacy
Reflect critically on questions of enforceability, institutional design, and political feasibility
Begin thinking through constitutional reform and advocacy strategies in a clearer, more legally grounded, and more practical way
Join us for a rare
comparative & practical workshop on
an emerging field of animal rights law!
Workshop Programme
Day 1 — Thursday, 25 June 2026
All times are in CEST (Paris time)
16:00–16:30 Opening — Marine Lercier
16:30–17:30 Animal rights constitutionalism: A global overview — Dr Elien Verniers
17:30–18:15 Sentience-based constitutionalism: implications for constitutional design and advocacy — Dr John Adenitire
18:15–18:30 Break
18:30–19:30 Brazil: constitutional animal protection in theory and practice — Dr Anna Caramuru P Aubert
19:30–20:30 South Africa: using the Constitution to advance animal protection — Amy P. Wilson
Day 2 — Friday, 26 June 2026
All times are in CEST (Paris time)
16:00–17:00 India: Animal Rights and the Constitution — Alok Hisarwala Gupta
17:00–17:45 The Finnish proposal on Fundamental Animal Rights — Professor Visa Kurki
17:45–18:00 Break
18:00–18:45 Ecuador: Animal Rights, Rights of Nature, and the Constitution — Dr Macarena Montes Franceschini
18:45–20:15 Practical mini-lab — Dr Elien Verniers
20:15–20:30 Closing
Please note: Lecture titles are indicative and may be adjusted before the workshop in discussion with the lecturers. The final programme and materials will be shared with registered participants closer to the workshop date.
€100
Workshop fee
You can also donate to support scholarships for students in financial need.
Payment & Scholarship Options
You can make your payment via bank transfer, Stripe or PayPal upon registration, or apply for a partial or full scholarship if you require financial support.
Priority will be given to applicants from the Majority World.