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MOTH Festival

of Ideas 2026

May 14-May 16, 2026
London, United Kingdom

With creativity and interdisciplinarity at its heart, the Festival will include keynote talks, interviews, film screenings, book launches, poetry readings, concerts, and performances of various kinds by prominent scientists, lawyers, Indigenous leaders, artists, journalists, advocates, and scholars from around the world.

  • The morning sessions comprise an interdisciplinary, interactive conference.

    Debates and initiatives on the rights of the more-than-human world are here to stay. Recent developments in the natural sciences, moral philosophy, and politics have fundamentally challenged the categorical distinction between human and nonhuman forms of life that is at the core of modern law and human rights thought and practice. However, legal thought and practice, including human rights, remain largely anthropocentric.

    The premise of this Festival is that a fruitful discussion of the rights of nature—or, as we propose to call them, more-than-human (MOTH) rights—needs to consider a broad range of knowledges and practices. This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars and practitioners from diverse fields and disciplinary backgrounds, including the social sciences, law, natural sciences, philosophy and the arts, to explore the concept of more-than-human rights and well-being from various angles.

    The conference will be organized around five main thematic areas:

    1. Storytelling in the more-than-human rights field: literary journalism, fiction, and other narratives that engage with the well-being and rights of the more-than-human world.

    2. More-than-human rights in theory: conceptual approaches to the more-than-human world, including philosophical frameworks, Indigenous thought, and spiritual approaches that emphasize ecological and holistic thinking.

    3. More-than-human rights in practice: cases, campaigns, and sociolegal mobilizations for the recognition of the rights and interests of the more-than-human world.

    4. MOTH rights innovations: social, legal, political, and technological innovations for engagement with the more-than-human world.

    5. MOTH in the natural sciences: advances in botany, mycology, ethology, physics, and other fields that drive home the entanglement of the human and the more-than-human worlds.

    Participation is determined by application. The call for paper proposals is now closed.

  • The afternoon sessions are open to the public and serve as a platform to engage a broader audience in conversations and actions aimed at advancing the rights and well-being of humans, nonhumans, and the web of life that sustains us all.

    With creativity and interdisciplinarity at its heart, the Festival includes keynote talks and conversations, film screenings, and performances of various kinds by prominent scientists, lawyers, Indigenous leaders, artists, advocates, and scholars from around the world.

Darkened dance floor with silhouetted dancing people and a DJ at a red curtain stage illuminated by red lights.
A man wearing glasses and a pink dress shirt stands behind a transparent lectern on a stage, holding some papers, with a green plant in the background.
Panel discussion at a conference with three women on stage, audience members seated, and colorful artwork with underwater theme in the background.
A person standing on a stage speaking at an event in front of an audience seated in a dark auditorium. The speaker is using a teleprompter and is surrounded by potted plants. Audience members are focused on the speaker, with some taking notes or phot
A man with a beard wearing a red knit cap and black jacket, gesturing with his hand.
Two men sitting on chairs on a stage with a colorful marine-themed backdrop.
A person wearing a large Native American headdress with red feathers, working with electronic equipment and a laptop on stage in a dimly lit setting.
A woman with short curly hair wearing a beige patterned blazer over a red top, sitting in a seated position while holding a microphone in her right hand and a notebook or papers in her lap.
An art exhibit with framed photographs and informational posters on display, partially obscured by white flowers in the foreground. The posters include the phrase 'the song of the cedars'.
A woman with red hair and glasses giving a presentation. She is holding a tablet and gesturing with her right hand.
A man with dark curly hair, glasses, and a black sweater is speaking into a microphone at an indoor event. A colorful poster with the word 'FESTIVAL' is partially visible in the background.
A man giving a speech on a stage at an event for the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, next to a podium with plants and a display with the event logo, with a colorful ocean-themed backdrop featuring fish and sea creatures.
Poster titled "Crossing the River" with text explaining the project and QR codes at the bottom, displayed on an easel. In the background, photographs of people are hung on a white curtain.