Think Tank: Animals & Biodiversity

Robyn Hederman

Robyn Hederman, JD, is an Associate Court Attorney in New York State Supreme Court. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and the co-chair of the Animal Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Her publications include “The Gallinger Bill, a Bill to Regulate Animal Experimentation in the District of Columbia: Forerunner of the 1966 Laboratory Animal Welfare Act” in Animal Ethics and Animal Law (Lexington Books, 2022), “Gender and the Animal Experiments Controversy in Nineteenth-Century America” in The Ethical Case against Animal Experimentation (University of Illinois Press, 2018), and “The Cost of Cruelty: Henry Bergh and the Abattoirs” in Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism (Routledge, 2019).  She has a Master of Arts in history and is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. Her research interests include gender and the history of the anti-vivisection movement in the United States.

Madona Berumen

Madona Berumen is from Tijuana, Mexico, and is currently based in NYC. She pursued a Master’s in Ethology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, focusing on pica and its relationship with animal welfare in companion animals. Since a young age, she has been passionate about animals and started watching how pigeons behave; this was her first approach to ethology. She is particularly interested in animal behavior, animal welfare, anthrozoology, and climate change. Currently, she collaborates at two dog shelters in New York City.

Meganne Natali

Meganne is French Doctor of Law whose subject’s research focused on “International Law facing Illegal Biodiversity Trade” with the aim of strengthening the fight against this traffic with solutions not only legal but also socioeconomic. Deeply passionate about environmental protection, biodiversity preservation and human and animal rights, Meganne writes articles and collaborates with various organizations such as the UK Centre for Animal Law or Wild Legal. She qualified as an Attorney in France and is also a Case Manager at the Doctoral Clinic of International Law and Human Rights of Aix-en-Provence, where she manages groups of LLM students who work on concrete cases brought by clients such as NGOs, lawyers and international organizations like the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Working languages: French, English.

Mariana Martin-Leyes

Mariana is a Colombian lawyer from Universidad de los Andes, with a Master´s Degree in Animal Law and Society from the Universitát Autónoma de Barcelona and a Professional Graduate Certificate in Environmental Policy and International Development from Harvard University. She is currently active as a leader and mentor for The Climate Reality Project, working to catalyze a global solution for the climate crisis. She was recently engaged as a sustainability consultant for Green Plus Solutions, developing sustainable solutions for corporations. Experienced as a public speaker, educating through conferences and workshops on climate change, sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystem sustainable finance. 18+ years of experience managing and leading a partnership operating in diverse sectors of the colombian economy and serving as a member in Boards of Directors for companies within the pharmaceutical industry.

Christine Rudd

Christine Rudd is a PhD Candidate at Texas Tech University with a research interest in equine wellbeing in horse-human interactions, specifically within the context of Equine-Assisted Services, and animal welfare policy and legislation. She is the Chair of the PATH, Intl. Equine Welfare Committee, is a board member for Equine International, and regularly publishes and presents educational content on equine behavior and wellbeing. While she is an advocate for horse sports and equine-assisted services, she believes that all sectors the horse industry can and should improve their practices to be more ethical, responsible, and prioritize the wellbeing of the horses involved.

Eveline Baptistella

Eveline Baptistella (Ph.D. in Contemporary Culture Studies – Communication and Culture, by Mato Grosso´s Federal University – Brazil) is a researcher and journalism titular professor at the Mato Grosso´s State University – Brazil.  She dedicates her research to the field of animal studies, media studies, and environmental and scientific journalism. Baptistella also coordinates the research project “Animal Studies and Media”, which includes the study of the relationships between human and nonhuman animals in contemporary society and the representation of nonhuman animals in the media.