Skip to main content

ASRI Scholars

Maneesha Deckha

Professor Maneesha Deckha

Professor Faculty of Law

Maneesha Deckha is Professor and Lansdowne Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Her research and teaching interests include critical animal law, feminist analysis of law, postcolonial legal studies, reproductive rights, health law and bioethics. Her work has been published in Canada and internationally in socio-legal and interdisciplinary venues including the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, the Harvard Journal of Gender and Law, Hypatia, the McGill Law Journal, and Sexualities. (View links to current publications in the expanded bio).

Office: FRA 230 250-721-8175

Jodey Castricano

Dr. Jodey Castricano

Professor, UBC Okanagan Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies

Dr. Jodey Castricano is a Professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. Her teaching is grounded in Eco-Criticism and Critical Animal Studies, and turns upon the question of posthumanism as being “after humanism” and anthropocentrism.

Stefan Dolgert

Stefan Dolgert

Associate Professor, Brock University Department of Political Science

Stefan Dolgert (PhD, Duke; BA, University of Southern California) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario. He writes and teaches on themes of inclusion and exclusion in democratic theory, and is especially interested in ancient Greece, classical China, posthumanism, critical animal studies, and Afrofuturism.

Angus Taylor

Angus Taylor

Philosophy

Angus Taylor (Ph.D. in Social and Political Thought, York University) taught for many years in the Philosophy Department at the University of Victoria. He has published articles on animal ethics, environmental ethics, political philosophy, and science fiction. 

Lisa Warden

Lisa Warden

Lisa Warden is a writer and independent scholar with a PhD in political philosophy and French literature from the University of Calgary. She worked in the field of dog population management in India, and in animal protection in India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.  

Annette Dealt

Annette Dehalt

Annette Dehalt (BSc, BEd, MSc) is a retired instructor from Camosun College’s Biology Department and Environmental Technology Program. Throughout her career, she has incorporated topics of animal sentience, compassionate conservation and anthrozoology into her biology lectures. Annette also initiated and facilitated an Animal Ethics group at Camosun.

ASRI Graduate Student Fellows

Julian Evans

Julian Evans

Sessional Instructor Environmental Studies

Julian Evans is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario in the department of Theory & Criticism and has taught existentialism at Vancouver Island University. His research is concerned with embodiment, imagination and philosophical ecology.  

Ness Houghton

Ness Houghton

Psychology

Ness Houghton is an MA student at the University of Victoria pursuing an interdisciplinary program in philosophy and law. Her research interests include critical animal studies, applied ethics, environmental studies, and feminist theory. 

Ruthana Slob

Ruthana Slob

Theatre

Ruthana Slob completed her Bachelor of Theatre at the Amsterdam University of the Arts and a Master of Education in Arts at the University of the Arts Utrecht. Ruthana had the opportunity to work with professional (international) performing arts companies, art schools and art funds, as well as in policy making with (local) governments and as a researcher with multiple research institutes. 

Tayler Zavitz

Tayler Zavitz

PhD Candidate, Sessional Instructor Sociology

Tayler Zavitz is a PhD candidate, sessional instructor, and teaching assistant consultant and coordinator in the Sociology department at the University of Victoria. Her current research area is Political Sociology and Social Movements, with a specific focus in Critical Animal Studies. Her PhD research focuses on the repression of animal activism in Canada, the expanding criminalization of dissent, and what this means for the future of animal activism in Canada.

Angelica Ramoutar

Angelica Ramoutar

Angelica Ramoutar is an M.A. student at the University of Western Ontario in the Department of Geography and Environment. Her research interests include environmental governance, critical animal studies, industrial agriculture, and biosecurity.  

Liz Williams and Banksy

Liz Williams

Psychology

Liz Williams is a PhD candidate in Environmental Psychology at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on relationships between humans and other species, broadly and in the context of wildlife conservation and trade, pet-keeping, and ecotourism. She draws on social psychological theories to examine inter-group relationships between species (e.g., speciesism), as well as perceptions of environmentalists and pro-environmental behaviour in human communities.

ASRI Graduate Student Fellows - Alumni

Ranjana Basu

Dr. Ranjana Basu

Ranjana Basu completed her doctoral program at Royal Roads University. She has practiced social work for a number of years and her research titled “Linking Animals, Social Justice and Social Work” aims to create a pathway for social workers to consider the wellbeing of non-human animals in their practice. She is interested in action research related to reshaping of animal-human relations and countering speciesism.

Ellen Campbell

Ellen Campbell

Ellen Campbell (she/her) JD, MA, BA (Hons), completed her JD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. Prior to attending law school, Ellen received a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her SSHRC-awarded thesis focused on colonialism and racism in conservation and animal law enforcement by nonprofits, for which she completed five months of field work on two Sea Shepherd campaigns. 

Holly Cecil

Holly Cecil

ASRI Project Coordinator Faculty of Law

As ASRI's Project Coordinator, Holly Cecil values working with the dedicated scholars in the growing discipline of Critical Animal Studies. Employing filmmaking to conduct and share research, her interests span a broad range including addressing exploitation of animals, human-animal relationships, interspecies empathy and cooperation, and social movements promoting plant-based dietary initiatives. 

Krista Durf

Krista Hiddema

Photo: Krista Hiddema and Smurfette. By Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Media.

Dr. Krista Hiddema is the Executive Director of For The Greater Good where she consults with animal protection organizations on matters of organizational development, strategic planning, and board governance.