IMPORTANT UPDATE
20 Jan 2024
It is with the deepest regret that the Board of Minding Animals International Incorporated has taken the decision that the Minding Animals Conference 5 that was scheduled to be held in Sydney/Gadigal Country in July, 2024, be now cancelled. The conference could not be ultimately achieved due to significant financial costs and a lack of requisite sponsors. The Board will meet shortly to discuss the opportunities that may be realised for future events.
Our Vision
The driving mechanisms of climatic change, the cascading impacts of wildfires, drought and heatwaves, flooding, melting icecaps and glaciers, are all increasing suffering and jeopardising the already fraught survival responses many animals face in the Anthropocene. Further, we believe that unchecked growth and consumption of animals is threatening all life, human or nonhuman animal, plant or otherwise. There is critical urgency in understanding and responding to these threats, at local, regional, and global scales. The ramifications for animals have received only superficial attention to date. Energy is needed to consider how best to support animals through these increasingly prevalent events as well as fostering paradigmatic change in food production and consumption.
Our considered response will only materialise through evaluation of empirical evidence, through discourse among disciplines of environmental and social theory, and through centring of indigenous voices to create inclusive, transparent, and ethically just policy and actions. This is no time for siloed debate and insular decision making. We have therefore created a truly novel space for the intersection of animal studies, animal protection, indigenous perspectives, and conservation science to provide scholars, practitioners, and the community a place to meet and facilitate public and scholarly debates.
Hosted by the Centre for Compassionate Conservation at the University of Technology Sydney, we have designed a conference program to draw upon the co-held values of respect and compassion for all life. The conference will also benefit from the UTS pledge to foster a diverse, inclusive and thriving community, and its goal of cultivating sustainability and social justice values.
We will bring academic rigour to the challenge of tackling the planetary crisis driven by climatic change and animal agriculture by addressing the intersectionality of issues studied within the Humanities, Arts and Social Science (HASS) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Drawing upon a wide variety of knowledge, including First Nation perspectives, delegates will be drawn not only from academia, but also from government, politics, corporations, and industry, harnessing divergent views on how nonhuman animals are perceived and treated to ensure that issues are considered broadly. Key will be identifying gaps in knowledge and policy actions to support all animals, how they are perceived, and whether they are captive (companions, livestock, zoos) or wild (pest or invasive [that is, out of place], endangered, or common and thriving).
A Meeting of Minds
We will also bring together academics and grassroots animal protection organisations in a ‘Meeting of Minds’. The Meeting of Minds will comprise two plenary panel sessions to discuss:
Abstract and Themes
Everyone who submits an abstract for the academic component of the conference will be asked to consider the impacts of animal agriculture and the climate crisis on animals. That said, and first and foremost, please understand that the conference is a transdisciplinary animal studies event. So, if your paper does not in any way consider animal agriculture and the climate crisis, your abstract will not be excluded and will indeed be considered for inclusion in the programme.
We believe that the greatest threat posed to the planet, to all planetary life, human or nonhuman animal, plant or otherwise, including the current pandemic, is the intersection of animal agriculture and the climate crisis. Hence, the urgency and criticality of climate as the key theme. Besides the overarching theme and how that is impacting individuals and habitats, all life on our fragile planet, we have also proposed the following and linked sub-themes for your consideration and to help you focus your abstract submission and conference debate:
We also encourage papers that consider animals in art, biodiversity conservation, gender studies, literature, religion, film, the media, medicine, politics, science, veterinary science, the zoological sciences…..and, as for all previous Minding Animals Conferences, the list goes on…..
Thinking About and Presenting at the Conference
Importantly, and unlike previous conferences, there will be delegates from a broader cross-section of society. There will be delegates from government, politics, corporations and industry that will have quite divergent views on how nonhuman animals are perceived/utilised/treated/exploited. In considering nonhuman animals, to not just talk to the ‘converted’, and to reach tangible outcomes for the future, we believe this is a necessary conference objective. Thus, this conference will seek to encourage dialogue and impart change from a broad cross-section of society.
Minding Animals Conferences are NOT animal rights conferences, or wildlife conservation or zoology conferences, or animal welfare conferences, or environmental conferences, or veterinary conferences, they are ALL that!
And like all previous conferences, we stress to all delegates who attend MAC5 that they participate in a spirit of honesty and cooperation, accepting that other delegates may have very divergent opinions on how animals are perceived/utilised/treated/exploited, but always with the overall objective of protecting animals, no matter in what form or time frame, with the objective to reach better outcomes for nonhuman animals. Nonetheless, we urge active and critical debate with your fellow delegates.
Force Majeure
Minding Animals International Incorporated, the Board, or any other Minding Animals committee or entity, are not liable for claims for damages and or losses if a Minding Animals Conference, any Partner event, or any session within a Conference or Partner event, is cancelled due to a force majeure incident.
Disclaimer
The organisers are not liable for damages and or losses of any kind which may be incurred by delegates or by any other individuals accompanying them, both during the official activities as well as going to or from the event. Delegates are responsible for their own safety and belongings.
Insurance
Any specific registration fee does not cover insurance for event delegates. Event organisers recommend that delegates take out insurance in their home country to cover pre-journey cancellation for personal reasons and necessary insurance to cover accidents, medical expenses and loss of personal belongings during their travel or conference stay.