Animal Sentience: LSE’s new research centre tackles big questions
The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience – a new groundbreaking interdisciplinary research centre
On 30 September 2025 the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience was formally opened marking a transformative moment in how we understand and relate to non-human animals. The Centre, which has been made possible by a multi-year commitment from the Jeremy Coller Foundation, is the first of its kind globally. Its mission is to bring together a unique interdisciplinary community of thought leaders across philosophy, veterinary medicine, evolutionary biology, comparative psychology, neuroscience, behavioural science, computer science, artificial intelligence, economics and law. It aims to develop new approaches to studying the feelings of other animals scientifically and use the emerging science of animal sentience to design better policies, laws and ways of caring for other animals.
At a special ceremony to celebrate the Centre’s launch LSE President and Vice Chancellor Larry Kramer paid tribute to the generosity and foresight of philanthropists like Jeremy Coller without whom so much of the work we are doing here at LSE would not be possible. He spoke about the financial challenges facing universities in the UK and stressed how important philanthropy is to the future of research and excellence.
We are always looking for new areas in which the intellectual capacities of universities are needed and can make a difference. The question of animal sentience is one of those areas. We're happy to join the family of organisations you've created to contribute to it.
In recognition of Jeremy Coller’s support in enabling us to launch this important centre, Larry presented Jeremy with a special plaque – a replica of the School’s Fabian Window which was designed in 1910 by one of LSE's founders, George Bernard Shaw. It depicts the Fabian Society's members helping to build a new world.
The Rosetta Stone for animal sentience
At the launch event philanthropist and investor Jeremy Coller spoke passionately about his commitment to animal advocacy. Multiple initiatives of the Coller Foundation reflect this commitment, including the Coller Doolittle Prize, a $10 billion award aimed at unlocking interspecies communication through AI. Just as the Rosetta Stone unlocked the secrets of hieroglyphics, he is convinced that the power of AI can help us unlock our understanding of how other animals experience their interactions with humans.
I decided to move from being a bystander to being an upstander, by becoming an animal rights activist. The acceptance of animal sentience underpins all of that, which is what led me to the door of Professor Birch.
Professor Jonathan Birch is the Director of the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience and has, in Jeremy’s words, “a rare talent for answering questions most people haven’t thought to ask and does so in a way that is both academically rigorous and easily accessible”.
Ethical moonshots
Disregard for other animals as sentient beings with lives of their own has become far too common around the world. Farmed animals and farmers alike are in danger of becoming cogs in corporate machines, machines that would put profit before care, compassion, and dignity.
As the founding director of the centre, Professor Jonathan Birch laid out a bold and visionary roadmap. “Our mission is to remodel the way people see, think about, and relate to other species,” he said.
Some might say this is an impossible dream, but that boundary between the possible and the allegedly impossible is one that we aim to move.
The Centre has three initial priorities:
- Ethical AI for animals: AI is already having huge impacts on other species, yet they’re often forgotten completely in discussions of AI governance, ethics, and safety. AI must be used to benefit animals, not harm them.
- Respect for all sentient beings: Building on his team’s previous work which led to the inclusion of crustaceans in the UK’s Animal Welfare Sentience Act and influenced bans on octopus farming in California, the new Centre will work for the extension of welfare protections to a wide range of invertebrates – such as insects and crustaceans - on a precautionary basis.
- Empowering humane choices: The Centre aims to address the “say-do” gap between people’s professed love for animals and their consumer behaviour and will produce work to shape the animal welfare labelling and public information campaigns of the future.
A Shared Vision
After the opening ceremony Jonathan then chaired a fascinating discussion - How AI is helping – and harming – animals - with leading thinkers and actors in this space and a shared sense of purpose imbued the whole evening.
The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience is more than a research hub - it’s a catalyst for change and we are very grateful to the Coller Foundation for enabling us to be at the forefront of reshaping how we relate to the animals with whom we share our world and ensuring that technological change works for - rather than against - the interests of other species
