In 2009, Dr Rod Bennison and Dr Jill Bough coordinated the First International Academic and Community Conference on Animals and Society, to be called Minding Animals, in Newcastle, Australia, which also represented the third biennial conference of the Australian Animal Studies Group. This successful event, which was the first of its kind, brought together from across the world and from 23 countries, 520 scholars, advocates, policy makers, artists and others who shared an interest in Animal Studies. The name, Minding Animals, was inspired by Marc Bekoff’s book, Minding Animals, and his life work exploring the emotional world of animals through the discipline of ethology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Minding Animals was to be coined Animal Woodstock by Professor Dale Jamieson before the conference (see media release below). His prediction was to be proved correct.
The Newcastle conference was supported financially by several organisations, including the University of Newcastle and the Voiceless Animal Protection Institute. Other supporters can be found listed in the Programme Conference Booklet that can be downloaded below.
On this webpage, you will find several documents, including the Final Programme, all the Abstracts, Arts Festival Guide, pamphlets and some of the recipes from the fabulous food served in the lunches. The Newsletters leading up to the conference can be found on the Bulletins webpage.