Katya is a recipient of the Animal Law LLM scholarship.
Katya graduated from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College, 2021) with a degree in Music with First Class with Distinction, as the recipient of four academic prizes. She earned her postgraduate Law degree from the University of London (2023) with Distinction, ranking third in her cohort as the recipient of two scholarships and a student member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.
As a keen academic lawyer, Katya is delighted to be contributing to the first Elgar’s Concise Encyclopaedia on Animal Law (ed. Joan Schaffner, 2024) on the topic of ‘Military Animals/Law Enforcement Animals/Search and Rescue Animals’. She has also published critically on the topic of Brexit and animal law and of the significance of European “sentience” acknowledgements. Katya served as a Research Assistant to Professor Marie Fox at the University of Liverpool on the project “Legal Governance of Dog Rescues: Addressing Post-Pandemic Challenges in a Period of Austerity”.
Katya worked for PETA UK as the Vegan Corporate Projects Liaison during which time she managed the entity’s vegan projects with supermarkets, in addition to leading a project with PETA France to support foie gras farmers in France switch to plant-based farming as well as formulating a political campaign for greater plant protein subsidies for farmers.
Katya hopes to pursue postgraduate research in sustainable agricultural policy and the implementing a shift to a plant-based food system following her studies at Lewis & Clark. However, she is passionate about converting academic “chatter” regarding agriculture into practical solution and hopes to use her experience at Lewis & Clark to establish a charitable consultancy and sanctuary in the UK to support animal farmers in switching to plant protein farming.
Katya currently works as the Legal Researcher with Global Animal Law (GAL) Association where she manages the organization’s media output and supports research tasks pertaining to the organization’s UNCAHP project – the first UN Convention on Animal Health and Protection. She is also heavily involved with grassroots animal rights campaigning and demonstrating. As a life-long cat person, she loves supporting her mum’s no-cage cat sanctuary when she’s at home, as well as dabbling in jazz piano, painting, and cycling.
Katya is thrilled and extremely excited to have the opportunity to study alongside some of the most dedicated animal advocates in the world.