Fellows

Dr Yoriko Otomo

Fellow

Global Research Network

I am a Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, a Research Associate at SOAS, Governor for the Network for International Law Students, member of the Global Animal Law Expert Group, and I am on the Board of Minding Animals International. I am a Series Editor for Anthem Press, on the editorial board of the Australian Feminist Law Journal, and an External Examiner for universities in the UK. I live in England with my beloved partner, three sons, three hens and two cats.​

Junior Fellows

Motunrayo Esan

Junior Fellow

Research Assistant at Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law

Mo is a Nigerian law graduate of Babcock University with research interests in animal law, public international law, human rights, matrimonial causes and election petitions. While in her final year of her LLB at Babcock, Mo wrote an undergraduate dissertation titled “Raising a Legal Framework for the Regulation of the Adoption of Dogs for Security in Nigeria”. In her work, she drafted a bill and sought to employ legal principles that would make dog owners more responsible for their activities in the country.

Upon completing her LLB, Mo immediately commenced with an LLM at Babcock and took international law courses. Her dissertation proposed a draft of a Universal Declaration on Animal Rights, and earned a distinction. In 2020, Mo was sponsored by the UK Centre for Animal Law to attend the Africa Animal Welfare Conference. She then commenced a role at the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law as a research assistant towards the publication of an animal rights law textbook (forthcoming in 2023). She also currently works as an editorial assistant for the Carnelian Journal of Law and Politics where she reads manuscripts and refers proposed contributions for peer reviews. She has also completed the bar exam of the Nigerian Law School and has been sworn in as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Altamush Saeed

Junior Fellow

Altamush is a Pakistan-based animal rights lawyer currently pursuing an LLM in Animal Law at the Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis and Clark Law School. He will be pursuing an Environmental Law, Natural Resources and Energy Law LLM at Lewis and Clark. He holds an LLM from the University of Michigan Law School, a BA-LLB from Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan and is a Co-Founder/Director of Charity Doings Foundation (charitydoings.org). Altamush is also an Animal Welfare Ambassador to Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRSWorld.org), both incorporated in Pakistan/USA, and is a member of the American Bar Association Animal Law, International Animal Law, and the Climate Change & Human Rights Subcommittees, and of the newly formed Animal Law Working Commission Group for The Union of International Associations (UIA).

He served as a Legislative Advocacy Intern at Best Friends Animal Society in 2022 and is currently serving as a Humane Policy Volunteer Leader at the Humane Society of the United States and a Government Relations Intern at The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for 2023.

Wasseem Emam

Junior Fellow

PhD Candidate at the University of Stirling

Wasseem is an Egyptian-Canadian freelance consultant experienced in both policy and research and based out of Glasgow, Scotland. He has over 13 years of varied international experience across the fisheries and aquaculture sector and holds degrees in applied aquatic ecology. Wasseem’s doctoral studies on the welfare of farmed Nile tilapia have led him further into work on fish welfare. He has experience working on fisheries and aquaculture studies for a wide range of clients including the FAO, the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee (PECH), WorldFish, Cefas, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, ASC, the Marine Conservation Society UK and WWF-UK with extensive travel across Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East.

Varnika Singh

Junior Fellow

Head- Legal Affairs at Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations

Varnika Singh is a lawyer with 12 years of experience in various fields of law. She began her career prosecuting Trade Mark laws and has since completed a judicial clerkship with the Hon’ble Justice of the High Court of Delhi, India. She was also involved with the Human Rights Law Network and worked in the field of human rights. Varnika also has a Master of Laws in Science and Technology from the National Law Institute at the University of Bhopal. She is currently employed by FIAPO as the Head of Legal Affairs, (previously Legal Manager and Consultant) in the legal and policy team. Varnika’s work focuses on litigation, legal advice, animal issues deliberation, and the drafting and vetting of court petitions and legal instruments.
Varnika worked on several significant cases while at FIAPO, including the prohibition of a bull sport known as Jallikattu, the issue of street dogs, and the prohibition of animals in circuses. Varnika has provided policy feedback on the draft amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1060, and the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. She is particularly interested in the legal rights of wild animals and nature. She is also pursuing an LLM in Animal Law from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, to broaden her knowledge and scope in the field.

Ankita Shanker

Junior Fellow

PhD Candidate at the Universities of Basel and Antwerp

I earned my post-graduate degree in law from Oxford University and qualified as a barrister at the Bar of England and Wales. After nearly 1.5 years at international criminal courts/tribunals and 1.5 years teaching on a Swiss university LLM course, I am now working towards my doctorate in animal rights philosophy, theory, law, and policy, at the Universities of Basel and Antwerp. I hold various scholarships/fellowships, and am thus funded by the Finnish, Swiss, and Belgian governments/research institutions. In my spare time, I work, pro bono, as a legal correspondent moot coordinator to a UK animal law centre, a consultant composing law and policy recommendations for the European Union on behalf of the Dutch coalition for animal NGOs, and a legal and policy advisor to various animal NGOs across Europe. In the past, as Moot Court Training Expert for the International Commission of Jurists, I founded, developed, and ran the first moot on international human and animal rights law, held at the national level in Myanmar. I am now the Founder and Director of the first world moot on international law and animal rights, comprising an international mooting competition and mooting/coaching training courses.