The People, Animals & Waste Systems' Web (PAWS-Web) Network, the Oxford Department of Biology and the Oxford School of Archaeology, with the India-Oxford Initiative (IndOx) and Wildlife Institute of India, are organizing a hybrid (at Oxford and online via MS Teams) 2-Day cross-disciplinary conference at the University of Oxford, tentatively between 28 and 31 March 2023. 

PAWS-Web is a trans-institutional initiative, started by academics and other stakeholders from the UK and India. The Constitution of this research network and two pilot projects in Delhi were funded by the India-Oxford Initiative (IndOx). Outcomes of these initiatives afforded PAWS-Web a consolidation grant from the DBT/Wellcome Trust UK India Alliance, in the form of an Early Career Fellowship award to Dr Nishant Kumar, the Project Lead.

The conference aims to bring together leading scholars and other stakeholders, working on interdisciplinary questions under the purview of PAWS-Web, enabling them to share their findings, innovations, and ideas about human-animal coexistence within rapidly urbanizing shared spaces. Urbanization is a characterizing feature of the Anthropocene, well known for its profound effects on the ecological systems, affecting a cascade of biological, social, cultural, and economic impacts. The Anthropocene affects global ecosystems, wherein, various cultural and technological influences simultaneously create opportunities and challenges. 

If you would like to share your research experiences, as either a presentation and/or a poster, in contribution to this PAWS-Web Start conference, we would appreciate your registration of interest and abstract/poster submission to be made before Monday 20th February 2023. The link to do so can be found below.

Please do circulate details of this conference and the link amongst those who might wish to attend or contribute to this conference.