#OtherMinds #AnimalMinds

Love to hear “We need to move towards Sentientism…” 😊

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I interview Walter Veit (@walterveit.bsky.social) about his 2023 Routledge book A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness. The episode is available free below, or in all the usual podcast places. knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-245-...

In a new paper, @jeffsebo.bsky.social and Toni Sims argue that insect research needs ethical oversight. Their article covers moral reasoning behind their argument and initial steps forward—including developing policies and methods for assessing welfare risks. Full paper here:

Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.

Post-doc positions: "Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..." uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...

Next up in our new 'What Our Students Say' pages, Holli Suragh (graduated 2025) talks about her experiences studying Politics and International Relations. 'Be inquisitive, talk, learn and never feel silly about speaking up.' www.lboro.ac.uk/study/underg...

New profiles from IRPH students are being published on 'What Our Students Say' pages of the Loughborough University website. First up, Gwendia Li (graduated 2025) talks about her experiences studying politics, philosophy, and economics in IRPH.

Just published in Philosophers' Imprint: A powerful new paper from Rich Healey and Angie Pepper challenging 'pet-keeping'.

Huge congratulations to @peteryeandle.bsky.social and the IRPH admin team who won the two 'Going the Extra Mile' awards at yesterday's School of Social Sciences and Humanities awards. Here in IRPH, we are proud of the support that our staff offer to students and to each other.

Interesting new work from Katie Prosser on the ethics of de-extinction. 'I ... conclude that the creation of animals of extinct predator species is only permissible if we can mitigate the harms they would otherwise cause once they come to exist.' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New from our very own Guy Aitchison (writing with Saladin Meckled-Garcia). Is 'naming and shaming' ever a punishment that fits the crime? Perhaps the UK government thinks so, given its proposals in the new Sentencing Bill. But Aitchison and Meckled-Garcia are less sure...

This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year. Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.

Not sure if any single part of academia felt more like a weird cheat code than Interlibrary Loan. Like, I just say a book I want, basically any book, and this crack team of experts just *get it*????

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I speak to Dustin Crummett of the Insect Institute and University of Washington Tacoma about his work on the environmental impact of insect farming. The episode is available below or in all the usual podcast places. knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-244-...

Are you interested in doing a PhD about what humans infer about animal minds? Check out this opportunity @northumbriapsy.bsky.social with me, @mdconstable.bsky.social and Lee Shepherd! Deadline 23 Jan 2026 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

From what I see, academics are struggling to deal with AI-related academic integrity at department level. The push to adopt AI for everything, invites to AI companies to market their gadgets on campus, AI talks etc. are driven by non-academic units (with the help of a few academic enthusiasts).

I’ve run into (what I think are) these people. I remember a few weeks when multiple people claiming to be former vegans with the same specific talking points crossed my path. Animal agriculture is based on misinformation and secrecy. This nonsense is just the tip of the iceberg.

BSET 2026 Leeds, 13-14 July Call for papers, deadline 1 December www.bset.org.uk

When Josh & I were first trying to get our paper in which we argue that just war theorists and associated people should probably consider harm to animals as well as harm to humans, one reviewer questioned our project because "soldiers don't ride on horseback anymore", so no animals were being harmed

"You seem happier" Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.

Written your first book in political theory and wondering if it might be worth a prize? Well why not give it a try... @biapt.bsky.social @ecpr-nptmethods.bsky.social @psapolthought.bsky.social

Two weeks ago, Grindr put on a fashion show of wool from "gay" rams rescued from slaughter. The media and the Internet swooned. But this feel-good story is a window into the dark role of forced reproduction in animal agriculture. By me & @gnrosenberg.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2036...

The only profitable part of university finances is overseas students. Overseas student fees current subsidise teaching of home students. This policy will reduce the number of overseas students coming here. In other words, it will reduce the amount of money spent on home students. Smoke & mirrors.

✨️Call for abstracts✨️ Excited to be organizing together with @leonarddung.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social and Albert Newen the RUB-LSE joint workshop "Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations" Bochum 9-10 Feb 2026 Join us! 🦧🐦🐙🐀🐬🦀🐜 Abstracts due 1 Dec 2025 philevents.org/event/show/1...

Recruiting a PhD student to join us at Univ Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ) to study how people perceive animal minds & how those perceptions shape moral concern, behaviour, & policy. Scholarship info: www.canterbury.ac.nz/research/abo... Rolling review starts Dec 2025 • Flexible Feb–July 2026 start

Reminder: If you might like to apply for a Leverhulme postdoc working with me (or any of my @irph.bsky.social colleagues) the deadline for the internal competition is one week today. Reach out ASAP!

Dr Catia Faria, board member of the UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics, is co-editing with Yip Fai Tse a Special Issue for The Journal of Ethics titled: “AI, Animals, and the Future: Aligning AI Trajectories with Nonhuman Welfare.”

Today is World Philosophy Day! Philosophy is a big part of what we do here in IRPH (and not just on our PPE degree). One reason for this is that training in philosophy makes us into better thinkers. This is important in every discipline. #philosophy #worldphilosophyday #philsky

What have you been up to since graduation? If you graduated from IRPH at Loughborough between May and July 2024, we need you! You’ll have received an email about the Graduate Outcomes Survey. Check your inbox and take part by 30th November: make your voice count!

An article I wrote and photo I took appeared on Wikipedia's main page yesterday. Did you know that local folklore links Boghead, a Northumbrian bastle house, to the story of Barty Milburn, an accomplished swordsman and killer of Scots? Impossible to be sure, but Barty may be an ancestor of mine.

link.springer.com/article/10.1... In 2023, over a few beers in Lisbon, Devon Cass and I teamed up to explore whether animals can be subjected to the kinds of wrongs relational egalitarians are concerned with. The result was this paper just published in Philosophical Studies:

Yesterday, Professor Caroline Kennedy-Pipe told us about her 'island obsession' as part of the IRPH Research Seminars. Svalbard (Norway) and Bornholm (Denmark) provide fascinating cases for war studies scholarship, and 2025 geopolitics potentially make them more important than ever.

📢Interested in applying for #Leverhulme Early Career #Fellowships 2025 (3yrs full time) with @irph.bsky.social @lborouniversity.bsky.social? Note our internal demand-management deadline of 4pm on 1 Dec (!), & pls contact potential supervisors asap: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career...

Intriguing new article: Elan Abrell responds to my/Rachel Robison-Greene’s challenges to his case against cultivated meat. The technology, he argues, cannot challenge industrial animal agriculture. brill.com/view/journal...

Last week, I was lucky enough to visit Cambridge to speak in the Seminar on Contemporary Political Thought. Huge thanks to Sarah Fine, @profclarechambers.bsky.social, and @tobiasmueller.bsky.social for the invitation. (The picture is me at the beautiful Peterhouse; Antoni Mikocki gave me a tour!)

"While ultra-processed plant-based foods are less healthy than whole plant foods, they may offer better cardiometabolic outcomes than unprocessed animal-based products. [P]roducts such as plant-based milks, meat analogs, and margarine may facilitate dietary shifts." link.springer.com/article/10.1...

AASA is very excited to announce that the winner of the inaugural round of the Siobhan O' Book Prize is Yamini Narayanan for the incredible book Mother Cow Mother India (Stanford UP, 2023)! url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/GCu8CL7EwM...

My School is supporting competitive applicants for the @leverhulme.ac.uk Early Career Fellowships (details below). I'm happy to support candidates in my research areas, including (among others) animals in moral/political philosophy. If you want to apply, contact me ASAP. Internal deadline 1 Dec.

It was a genuine pleasure to be the subject of a two-hour grilling on animals and war at York yesterday – and then immediately jump into a one-hour grilling on animals and food systems at Dublin City University.

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I speak to Doris Schneeberger about her 2024 Palgrave book Envisioning a Better Future for Nonhuman Animals: Towards Future Animal Rights Declarations. The episode is available free below or in all the usual places. knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-243-...

Articles suggesting Musk‘s Grokipedia is an enterprise that is in any way intended to further knowledge are either extremely naive or foolishly charitable. Grokipedia‘s purpose is the exact opposite. It is to undermine trust, erode knowledge, & spread far-right ideology, full-stop.

Sheffield Hallam University complied with Beijing demand to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project on supply chains and forced labour being dropped. It was reinstated after threat of legal action but chilling effect remains www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I don't trust people who are out of the office with limited access to email. What the hell are you doing

Myths about our ancestors' meaty diets animate modern politics and culture wars about food and identity. But the history of human diets tells a different story about food's past and lets us be more rational about its future. @gnrosenberg.bsky.social & I for @vox.com www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Thanks very much to The Royal Institute of Philosophy for awarding me the Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize 2025. Thanks as well to the ERC who funded it, Peter Momtchiloff who commissioned it for OUP, all my LSE team members past and present, and everyone who made the book possible!

This is the most stunning legal turn-around I'm aware of. AR activists are charged with burglary for freeing dogs from Ridglan. The charges are dropped. The activists succeed in getting a special prosecutor appointed to investigate Ridglan for animal cruelty. Now Ridglan will close. Incredible.

Remember this, whenever someone says "alternative proteins - yuck!" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I'm hiring! A 2-year postdoc on my ERC project "KNOW-HOW" at the Cogito: Epistemology Research Centre University of Glasgow. (Deadline for applications 9 November.) Please share with anyone you think might be interested. Details below www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...

Fee waivers are available for UK applicants interested in reading for a PhD in my department. I'd be happy to support potential applicants in my research areas, especially (but not exclusively) research around animals in moral and political philosophy. Short deadline!