4th Swiss Animal-Environmental Ethics Network Meeting

The fourth "Swiss Animal-Environmental Ethics Network Meeting” takes place on 20th of November 2025 at the University of Fribourg (Campus Pérolles).

Issues related to animal and environmental ethics are increasingly at the center of political, societal, and academic debates. In times of emerging zoonotic disease outbreaks and climate change, the question of what humans owe to nature and animals is one of the most pressing issue humanity is currently facing. In Switzerland, research in both fields is undertaken at several institutions and different faculties and research groups that share common challenges and overlapping research interests. 

The goal of this meeting and hopefully future meetings is to facilitate networking between different institutions and researchers working in the field of animal and/or environmental ethics in Switzerland. The idea of this one-day meeting is to give researchers in these fields an opportunity to present and inform each other about their ongoing and future projects. Furthermore, the event aims to establish new collaborations and synergies for research, teaching and funding opportunities, and facilitate an exchange about where future challenges lie with regards to the ethics of human-animal-environmental relations and other pressing environmental challenges.

20. November 2025

University of Fribourg

Registration Open! 

Deadline: 16. November 2025

In collaboration with

 

Registration - open

You can register for the event by filling in the form below. The registration is free of charge. Deadline for the registration is November 16.

 

Call for Papers - Closed

We invite junior and senior researchers working in the field of animal and/or environmental ethics in Switzerland to propose contributions for this networking workshop by submitting a 500-word abstract via this site (see below). Contributions in the form of a presentation of either current or future (or both) projects should be approximately 15-20 min long and will be followed by time for discussion. Deadline for submissions is 23. September 2025

You can apply by filling out the from below. 

 

Organizers

  • Simon Kräuchi, University of Fribourg
  • Anna Deplazes Zemp, University of Zürich
  • Angela Martin, University of Basel
  • Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, University of Fribourg
  • Markus Wild, University of Basel

 

Contact

In case of questions, please email to simon.kraeuchi@unifr.ch.

 

Program

Time

Name & Affiliation

Title

9:50-10:00

 

Welcome

10:00-10:30

Stephanie Schuster, University of Basel

On feeling at home in the world or should the encounter with natural beauty be a human right?

10:30-11:00

Tim Zeelen, University of Fribourg

Towards a theological ethics for fellow creatures

11:00-11:20

Break

Café La Pomme (ground floor)

11:20-11:50

Rosa Cajiga,

University of Basel

Cantonal Harmonisation of Animal Experiment Licensing in Switzerland: Perspectives of Animal Research Overseers

11:50-12:20

Ivo Wallimann Helmer, University of Fribourg

Who should shoot the elephant? On the necessity of an ethics for moral agents in environmental governance and practice

12:20-13:30

Lunch Break

Café La Pomme (ground floor)

13:30-14:00

Angela Martin and Miriam Zemanova, University of Fribourg

Mind the Bug! Principles for Ethical Research with Sentience Candidates

14:00-14:30

Simon Kräuchi, University of Fribourg

Non-Economic Values and Climate Loss and Damage

14:30-15:00

Aoife Milford, University of Basel

Replacing animals in research in Switzerland, facilitators and barriers

15:00-15:20

Break

Café La Pomme (ground floor)

15:20-15:50

Gabrielle Fagundez, University of Fribourg

Wild Animals in the Climate Emergency: Ethical Responsibilities and Challenges of Intervention

15:50-16:20

Nico Müller, University of Basel

Anti-Science Anti-Vivisectionism

16:20-16:35

Break

 

16:35-17:05

Maude Ouellette-Dubé,

University of Fribourg

Equines in philosophical focus

17:05-17:35

Gérald Hess and Angela Martin, Université de Lausanne and University of Fribourg

What if...? The ethical implications of plant sentience

 

 

 

18:00

Drinks & dinner

Les Menteurs (Passage du Cardinal 1)