At this year's Summer School, around 180 experts from the fields of theology, animal ethics, animal rights, psychology and other areas discussed a wide range of aspects of the conference theme ‘The Ethics of Captivity’ in over 70 presentations. The full programme can be found here.

The Foundation for Animals in Law (TIR) was also represented at the event with a highly acclaimed specialist presentation. In her talk ‘Animal modifications to captive conditions’, our librarian and bookbinder Moena Zeller explored the growing tendency in the animal industry to tailor animals to specific husbandry requirements at the expense of their natural needs. This highly problematic tendency is evident in the legal regulations governing the keeping of domestic, farm and wild animals alike.

TIR was represented at the Summer School in Oxford by an interdisciplinary delegation of four. In addition to Moena Zeller, Alexandra Spring, Gabriela Gschwend and Managing Director Dr Gieri Bolliger also attended the conference on behalf of TIR. We would like to thank the organisers, in particular Prof. Andrew Linzey, Dr Clair Linzey and their fantastic team for once again running the entire event to perfection, and we are already looking forward to the Animal Ethics Summer School 2026, which will be entitled ‘Companion Animals’. Further impressions from last year's Animal Ethics Summer Schools can be found here.