A new research centre is set to transform our understanding of animal feelings and the impact of human actions on them
A cutting-edge research centre that’s designed to transform our understanding of animal feelings and rewrite the rules on how we live alongside them will launch this autumn at the London School of Economics.
The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience is backed by £4m in funding from the Jeremy Coller Foundation, the philanthropic vehicle of private equity entrepreneur Jeremy Coller. The centre’s inaugural director, Prof Jonathan Birch, said the world-first facility would be a place for ‘ethical moonshots’, which will strive to put Britain back at the forefront of animal welfare. “Let’s make a world in which all sentient beings are respected, even the smallest ones,” he said.”
“Our goal is to use the emerging science of animal minds to design better policies, laws, and ways of caring for other animals,” he said. “Our centre … won’t change everything overnight, but it can change the conversation in the UK and beyond – and help us rediscover who we are.”
The project will bring together top thinkers from fields such as philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence and biology. The shared research will focus initially on three priorities: devising frameworks for the ethical use of AI in relation to animals, revamping welfare laws to safeguard insects and other invertebrates, and shaping information campaigns to shift public attitudes and behaviour.
Birch said Britain had long prided itself in taking a strong stance on animal welfare, but pointed to the industrialisation of agriculture as an example of how we have lost our way. “We think of ourselves as a nation of animal lovers. But more recently we seem to have lost our sense of ambition,” he said.
“Progress has stalled and is, in some areas, reversing. Farmed animals and farmers alike are becoming cogs in ferocious corporate machines that put profit before care, compassion and dignity.”
Our centre can change the conversation in the UK and beyond – and help us rediscover who we are
Birch suggested advances in AI presented both a risk to animal welfare and a revolutionary tool for helping us understand our animal neighbours. He said his research colleagues would be exploring ways to limit its potential to abuse the natural world. At the same time, it could help decode animal communication and help us better understand what creatures want.
“We want to change the way humans relate to the rest of the natural world,” said Birch. “Some might say this is an impossible dream, but the boundary between the ‘possible’ and the allegedly ‘impossible’ is one we aim to move.
'Let’s make a world in which all sentient beings are respected, even the smallest ones' said Prof Jonathan Birch. Image: Redaviqui Davilli
What might evolve from the centre’s work?
- New codes of practice for the farming of invertebrates such as insects, and tougher protections for sentient creatures such as crabs and lobsters.
- AI systems that account for wildlife welfare, for example in the expansion of driverless cars and automated farming outfits.
- A reckoning between our values and actions in the UK, closing the gap between ‘our self-image as a nation of animal lovers and the reality of our indifference to animal welfare’.
Main image: Fjdelvalle
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