Jonathan Birch

Jonathan Birch is a philosopher at the London School of Economics whose work on sentience spans octopuses, insects and AI systems. After studying natural sciences and earning a PhD at Cambridge, he joined the LSE in 2014 and published The Philosophy of Social Evolution in 2017. His 2021 review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans led the UK to include octopuses, crabs and lobsters in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In 2023 and 2024, he coauthored reports on indicators of consciousness in AI systems and on AI welfare, and his 2024 book The Edge of Sentience won the 2025 Nayef Al-Rodhan International Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy. He is a professor of philosophy at the LSE and the inaugural director of its Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience.

Now at: Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Works: 149
Citations: 4,410
h-index: 36

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

2005–2013

Natural sciences and a Cambridge PhD

He studies natural sciences at the University of Cambridge from 2005 to 2008 and takes an MPhil in history and philosophy of science there from 2008 to 2009. He completes his Cambridge PhD in 2013 with a dissertation titled Kin Selection: A Philosophical Analysis, supervised by Tim Lewens.
2012–2014

From Christ's College to the LSE

He holds a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, he wins a Philip Leverhulme Prize and joins the LSE's Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method as an assistant professor.
2017–2018

The Philosophy of Social Evolution

Oxford University Press publishes his first book, The Philosophy of Social Evolution, in 2017; it explores the foundations of social evolution theory, including Hamilton's rule, kin selection and inclusive fitness. He is promoted to associate professor in 2018.
2020–2022

Sentience in octopuses and crabs

From 2020, he leads the five-year Foundations of Animal Sentience (ASENT) project at the LSE, funded by the European Research Council. In 2021, he leads a review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Its findings lead the UK to include octopuses, crabs and lobsters in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.
August 2023

Indicators of AI consciousness

In August 2023, he coauthors Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness with 18 other researchers, including Patrick Butlin, Robert Long and Yoshua Bengio. The report derives “indicator properties” of consciousness from neuroscientific theories and uses them to assess several recent AI systems.
April 2024

The New York Declaration

In April 2024, he, Kristin Andrews and Jeff Sebo unveil the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness at a conference at New York University. The declaration holds that there is a “realistic possibility” of consciousness in insects, octopuses, crustaceans and fish.
2024–2025

The Edge of Sentience

In July 2024, Oxford University Press publishes his open-access book The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI. In November 2024, he coauthors the report Taking AI Welfare Seriously, which calls on AI companies to start assessing their systems for evidence of consciousness and robust agency, and tells The Guardian he is “worried about major societal splits” over AI sentience. The book wins the Royal Institute of Philosophy's £20,000 Nayef Al-Rodhan International Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy in 2025.
Since 2025

Director of the Coller Centre

In March 2025, the LSE announces the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, backed by a £4 million donation from the Jeremy Coller Foundation, and names him its inaugural director. The centre opens in autumn 2025 within the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, with ethical uses of AI in relation to animals among its aims. He is a professor of philosophy at the LSE and the centre's director.