[PHILOS-L] Program and Call for Registration: RUB-LSE Workshop on Animal Minds, February 9-10 2026 in Bochum
Sekretariat Newen
Call for Registration
Ruhr-University Bochum & London School of Economics Joint Workshop
“Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations”
February 9-10, 2026
Ruhr University Bochum, Zemos (in person and online)
Conference page link: https://philevents.org/event/show/133394
Please register using this link https://forms.gle/Adfe7pCpc31aqcJF7 by 23.01.2026. Registration is free.
Keynote Speakers:
Colin Allen (Santa Barbara University)
Kristin Andrews (CUNY)
Jonathan Birch (LSE)
Tomer J. Czaczkes (Free University Berlin)
Rebecca Dreier (LSE)
Leonard Dung (Ruhr University Bochum)
Onur Güntürkün (Ruhr University Bochum)
Albert Newen (Ruhr University Bochum)
Simone Pika (University Osnabrück)
Sanja Sreckovic (Ruhr University Bochum)
Daria Zakharova (LSE)
Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- What do we know about capacities such as reasoning, sentience, or social understanding in other species?
- How do the cognitive and affective capacities of different species compare and contrast with each other and with human capacities?
- What is the evolutionary origin of important human psychological features?
- What are promising methodological frameworks and experimental paradigms for investigating animal minds?
- Which theories about animal minds are supported by recent empirical findings?
- What are the promises and limitations of multidimensional profile and signature testing accounts in comparative psychology?
Program:
Day 1 (Monday, 09.02.2026)
09:00-10:00 Kristin Andrews (CUNY) “Investigating Shared Norms between Humans and Animals”
10:00-10:45 Albert Newen (RUB) “Understanding Animals Minds with Multidimensional Profile Theories: Advantages illustrated by investigating Animal Empathy”
10:45-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-12:00 Sanja Sreckovic (RUB/University of Belgrade) “Three Dogmas of Comparative Psychology: Dualism, Clustering, Egoism”
12:00-13:45 Lunch break
13:45-14:45 Onur Güntürkün (RUB) “Know Yourself! - The Many Open Questions of Mirror Self Recognition”
14:45-15:30 Daria Zakharova (LSE) “Causal Cognition: Beyond Perlian Creatures”
15:30-17:00 Poster session + coffee
17:00-18:00 Tomer Czaczkes (Free University Berlin) “Advanced Cognition with Hard Limits in an Insect”
19:00 Conference dinner
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Day 2 (Tuesday, 10.02.2026)
09:00-10:00 Simone Pika (University of Osnabrück) “Animal Minds: From Intentionality to Prosociality”
10:00-10:45 Stefano Carlini (Scuola Normale Superiore) “Aesthetic Attention in Bowerbirds: Toward an Empirically Testable Hypothesis”
10:45-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-12:15 Jonathan Birch (LSE) “Five Windows into How Animals Experience Time”
12:15-14:00 Lunch break
14:00-14:45 Victor Carranza-Pinedo (University of Münster) “Multidimensional Profiles and Borderline Animal Consciousness”
14:45-15:30 Rebecca Dreier (LSE) “Episodic Memory and Consciousness: Why They Come Together in Animals”
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-16:45 Leonard Dung (RUB) “Reconciling Human and Non-human Consciousness Research: Metamodels and Instantiation Models of Consciousness”
16:45-17:45 Colin Allen (Santa Barbara University) “Signatures, Markers, and Tests: New Observations without New Theories?”
This joint event is organized by the following team:
Ruhr-University Bochum: Sanja Sreckovic, Leonard Dung, & Albert Newen
London School of Economics: Jonathan Birch
For any questions write to: leonar...@rub.de
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