TIR welcomes research visit from Antwerp
Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Eva Kempers to our library. The specialist in international animal law, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp and Junior Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law spent a few days in our library for research purposes. We are happy to share Eva's impressions of her study visit at TIR here.
March 19, 2025
“I spent a week at the TIR library doing research for my project A Continental Approach to Animal Rights (supported by FWO-short stay grant).
Most people working in animal law know the feeling: searching through library catalogues, wandering aisles, and finally spotting that one shelf with books on animal law. Finding more than three relevant titles is a rare success. How different the experience is at the TIR library in Zurich! Instead of a single shelf, the entire collection - over 22,000 works - is relevant.
It was a more than inspiring time. I discovered doctoral theses from as early as 1965 on European animal welfare law - never digitized - alongside animal law works from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Japan, and over 80 Dutch publications dating back to 1900. I even stumbled upon some writings by my great-great-grandfather Felix Ortt on apes, vegetarianism, and the fight against vivisection.
But most of all, the experience of being in a space with so much history, so many physical traces of people from all times and countries with one commonality - an interest in and passion for animals, is fulfilling in a way impossible to describe. All carefully selected, sorted, and put together by TIR’s dedicated librarians, Moena Zeller and Vanessa Koch.
Beyond the research, I felt very welcome in the TIR office, surrounded by all the amazing human and non-human colleagues. One week was far too short, and I hope to return soon. If you’re working in animal law, I can't recommend enough to pass by this unique library, a paradise for animal lawyers in the middle of Switzerland. A warm thank you to the TIR team for their welcome, support and hospitality.”
We greatly appreciate such visits and are always pleased about the valuable exchange.
