International Interdisciplinary ASAB Workshop: AGENCY BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY
Dernière mise à jour : 23 sept.
We are delighted to invite you to our workshop, which marks the culmination of our seminar series on Agency between Biology and Philosophy.
The workshop will take place on 22-23 September 2026
in person: NEW LOCATION University College London Common Ground, room G11, ground floor of the South Wing Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT) (you can find the map here). It is not really easy to find, so please come early and/or ask the UCL staff who will be happy to guide you :)
and online: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/392138113821000?p=MSniagn076K0Mi2f0D
Meeting ID: 392 138 113 821 000
Passcode: ec77TS9d
Schedule (all times British Summer Time)
22 September 2026: Foundations, Organisms and Behaviour
09:30-09:45 Welcome
Session 1: What is Agency?
09:45-10:15 Florian Moullard (IHPST, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) - Double Agents: Agency as a Bridge-Concept for Animal Cognition
10:15-10:45 Camilla Cenni (University of Mannheim) - Play as a possible window into animal agency
10:45-11:15 Elisa Fernández Fueyo (Royal Holloway, University of London / University College London) - What can baboon communication tell us about language and animal agency?
11:15-11:45 Coffee break
11:45-12:45 Session discussion
12:30-14:00 Lunch break
Session 2: Organisms, Subjectivity and Behaviour
14:00-14:30 Denis Walsh (University of Toronto) (online) - The Agency Perspective: Subjectivity, Objectivity, Normativity
14:30-15:00 Marek Špinka (Czech University of Life Sciences Prague) (online) - Animal play as a case of animal agency
15:00-15:30 Open discussion
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-16:30 Flash talks (Earnest Kota Carr ; Auguste Nahas ; Sanja Sreckovic; Iris van der Veen)
23 September 2026 : Meaning, Ethics and Applications
09:45-10:00 : Welcome and Case Study presentation
Session 3: Agency, Knowledge and Animal Perspectives
10:00-10:30 Hugh Desmond (Wageningen University) - Individual Selection, Play, and Personality
10:30-11:00 Angie Pepper (University of Roehampton) - Animal Agency and the Problem of Political Legitimacy
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-12:30 Session discussion
12:30-14:00 Lunch break
Session 4: Agency in Practice
14:00-14:30 Alessandra Yu (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) (online) - TBA
14:30-14:45: Discussion
14-45-15:00 Coffee break
15:00-16:45 Roundtable and Case Study Discussions
16:45-17:00 Closing remarks
Rationale
The aim of this workshop is to bridge the gap between theorists and experimentalists in philosophy and biology, clarify the various uses of the concept of agency in animal studies, and investigate its significance and applications in scientific and conservation contexts. Agency will serve as a focal point for addressing key questions related to both animal studies and their epistemology.
An agency-based approach will be explored for its contribution to understanding animal subjectivity, communication, inventiveness, culture, and traditions. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to critically examine our theoretical and experimental methods: by analysing the role of anthropomorphism in science, exploring the kinds of experimental approaches that enable the expression of agency, and discussing how conservation policies can support it. More broadly, the event will offer a space to reflect on the collaborative potential between biology and philosophy within the field of animal studies.
Registration
You can register here. Please note that in-person places are limited, so registration will close once we reach capacity.
No need to register to participate online. The link for online participation will be shared on this page.
About the elevator pitches:
Elevator pitches are aimed at Early Career Researchers and will be limited to 3 slides for 3 minutes.
If you would like to take part in the elevator pitches session , please register and submit an abstract by 7 August 2026.
We will get back to applicants early September.
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