Lecture series ‘Human-Animal Relationships #govegan’: 3 December 2026
Following the tremendous success of the online lecture series in the winter semester 24/25, the summer semester of 25 and the winter semester of 25/26—each with over 1,300 participants—the organizers of the UW/H lecture series have turned their attention to a different topic for the summer semester of 26: “Gaming and Society.” This winter semester, the public and free-to-attend (online) lecture series “Human-Animal Relationships #govegan” returns.
The lecture series, organized by the Chair of Didactics and Educational Research in Healthcare ( Prof. Jan P. Ehlers, Dr. Julia Nitsche) and the Junior Professorship for Digital Health (Jun.-Prof. Theresa Sophie Busse) focuses on the synthesis “Human-Animal Relationships” and offers a broad platform for comprehensive discussion and examination of the diverse aspects of animal welfare, environmental awareness, and ethics.
On December 3, participants will join Dr. Simone Horstmann in exploring the question of what it means to witness animal suffering.
When you ask people why they became vegan, you often hear: “I saw the suffering of animals”—in a documentary, rather casually in an Instagram feed, or perhaps even firsthand. More than almost any other sense, sight seems to be linked to our capacity for morality; it reveals the extent to which something can truly become real to us. Traditional animal ethics has, to date, taken surprisingly little note of this connection: It sees itself as a purely justificatory theory—and yet frequently faces the (frustrating) reality that even the best reasons for action can remain, for some mysterious reason, ineffective. For this reason, this lecture argues that conflicts in animal ethics should also be reconstructed as conflicts of perception: Those who hold a different view on a moral question not only have different reasons but, in fact, see something different and experience reality differently. Consequently, conflicts in animal ethics are (at least) also about a dispute over what we see when we look at animals, how deeply we ourselves, as perceivers, are entangled with what we perceive, and how ethics is involved in the acquisition (and loss) of moral sensitivity.
Upcoming Dates:
December 17, 26: S4E9 Mid-Course Reflection
December 24, 26: Winter Break
December 31, 26: Winter Break
January 7, 27: S4E10 When Animals Cross Boundaries: Invasive Species at the Intersection of Humans, Animals, and Health
January 14, 27: S4E11 Thinking with Animals: Media Studies on Human-Animal Relationships
January 21, 27: S4E12 Animal WelfareDuring Slaughter
January 28, 27: S4E13 Pest Control from an Animal Welfare Perspective
February 4, 27:S4E14 Final Kahoot Quiz
Participation:
This year, parts of the course will be held in person for UW/H students. External participants may continue to attend online. We are happy to issue a certificate upon regular attendance (e.g., for independent credit as an elective at your own university or for professional development).
External participants have two options for participation this semester. They can either register via Zoom and then join directly in the Zoom room, or participate anonymously via the Twitch stream.
Further information:
The “Human-Animal Relationship” course was first held in the summer semester of 2021 as a small-group seminar in which students developed the content themselves. Here is a book that was collaboratively developed at that time by the students and the teaching team as part of the course. Now, the event is set to continue for the fourth time in a larger format, in which experts will provide us with insights into their respective fields.
In recent years, there has been a growing focus on environmental awareness and interest in climate protection at universities. Although this has led to the development of very successful programs, the direct relationship between humans and animals has not yet been adequately addressed in university contexts. In an increasingly complex world, it also makes little sense to view major challenges in isolation.