Day 1 – Thursday 1 October 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:15 | Registration | LUMS | All day |
| 8:45–9:00 | Welcome and opening remarks: Delphine Grass (Lancaster University) |
LUMS, LT17 | 15 min |
| 9:00–10:00 | Keynote 1: Eva Meijer, ‘The Politics of Translating Animal Languages’ |
LUMS, LT17 | 60 min |
| 10:00–10:25 | COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS | LUMS | 25 min |
| 10:25–11:55 | Panel 1: Translation, Linguistics, and Machine Learning ‘How Far Can We Go with AI Translation Across Species?’, Claire Larsonneur (University of Paris 8) ‘Vocal Human-Animal Interaction’, Beatrice Szczepek Reed (Lancaster University) ‘Temporal Metaphors, AI Translation, and Ecological Time: A Comparative MQM Study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets’, Daniele Duscovich (Alma Mater Europaea University) |
LUMS, LT16 | 90 min |
| 11:55–12:45 | LUNCH | LUMS | 50 min |
| 12:45–13:35 | Panel 2: ‘Why We Need Animal Translation Studies’ Delphine Grass (Lancaster University), Becca Franks (NYU), Celine Germond-Duret (Lancaster University), Christine Webb (NYU), Carolyn Pedwell (Lancaster University), Lauri Torgerson-White (NYU) |
LUMS, LT16 | 50 min |
| 13:35–14:35 | Panel 3: Soundscapes, Extractivism, and Environmental Activism ‘Mangrove in/as Soundscapes: Botanical Agency and Ecomusical Activism in Musical Mangroves (2020)’, Vishal Yadav (Indian Institute of Technology, Patna) ‘Listening Closely: Extractivism, Translation and Sonic Thinking in Olhe Bem As Montanhas (Ana Vaz, 2018)’, Catriona Parry (University of Oxford) |
LUMS, LT16 | 60 min |
| 14:35–15:05 | COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS | LUMS | 30 min |
| 15:05–16:35 | Panel 4: Sensing the non-Human World: AI Mediations ‘The Risks and Opportunities of the Media Representation of AI for Nonhuman Animal Communication’, Bernice Bovenkerk & Caatje Kluskens (Wageningen University) ‘Epistemic Redundancy and Animal Welfare: Why We Should Not Expect AI Use in Livestock Settings to Increase Welfare’, Mika Smith (University of California San Diego) ‘Beyond Decoding: Everyday Practices of Interspecies Translation’, Nathalie Muffels (Wageningen University) |
LUMS, LT17 | 90 min |
| 16:35–16:40 | SHORT BREAK | LUMS | 5 min |
| 16:40–17:40 | Keynote 2: Ursula Heise (UCLA), ‘Aliens, Animals and AI’ |
LUMS, LT17 | 60 min |
| 17:40–17:45 | Day 1 Closing remarks | LUMS, LT17 | 5 min |
| 17:45–19:00 | Reception (Informal) – Pizzas, Olives and Dips |
LUMS | 75 min |
| 19:00–20:00 | Performance: Khairani Barokka | LUMS, LT17 | 60 min |
Day 2 – Friday 2 October 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 | Registration | LUMS | All day |
| 9:30–10:30 | Keynote 3: César Rodríguez-Garavito (New York University): ‘Listening to our Animal Kin: Opportunities, Risks, and Guardrails in AI-Assisted Animal Communication Studies’ |
LUMS, LT17 | 60 min |
| 10:30–10:50 | COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS | LUMS | 20 min |
| 10:50–12:20 | Panel 5: Conservation, Listening and Ecological Networks ‘Risk beyond Human Eyes: Situating Systemic Risk Assessment and Response within Animal-Centric Testimony’, Thomas Deacon & Philip Tovey (ASRA) ‘Listening to the Seabed: The Politics of Translating Polyphonic Deep-sea Thought and Practice’, John Childs & Philipa Louey (Lancaster University) ‘Transformation as Translation: Therianthropic Law in San Human-Animal Relations’, Saskia Vermeylen & Luke Kaplan (University of Strathclyde) |
LUMS, LT16 | 90 min |
| 12:20–13:20 | LUNCH | LUMS | 60 min |
| 13:20–14:20 | Keynote 4: Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh), ‘Reconceptualising Reciprocity in Interspecies Communication: A posthuman and Eco/feminist Translation Ethics’ |
LUMS, LT17 | 60 min |
| 14:20–14:30 | SHORT BREAK | LUMS | 10 min |
| 14:30–15:30 | Panel 6: Public Engagement and Technologies of Interspecies Understanding ‘AI to Advance Interspecies Understanding: Global Public Perspectives to Inform Risks and Opportunities’, Laura Hay (Collective Intelligence Project) & Jane Lawton (Earth Species Project) ‘Animal Representation and the Legitimacy of AI Translation’, Melanie Challenger (Animals in the Room) |
LUMS, LT16 | 60 min |
| 15:30–16:00 | COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS | LUMS | 30 min |
| 16:00–17:30 | Panel 7: Machine Vision, Digital Twining, Multispecies Governance ‘Algorithmic Ontologies: AI, Machine Vision and the Governance of Multispecies Worlds’, Juan Martin Dabezies (Universidad de la República, Uruguay) & Valerie Nelson (University of Greenwich) ‘Who Speaks for the Forest? AI Translation, Digital Twins, and Multispecies Governance’, Feja Lesniewska (University of Surrey) ‘From Biological Information to Animal Voice: Why Law May Not Be Ready for AI Translation’, Miaomiao Tian (Lancaster University) |
LUMS, LT16 | 90 min |
| 17:30–17:45 | Day 2 Closing remarks | LUMS, LT16 | 15 min |
