Madeline Bickley
Madeline is a second-year Master’s of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School.
Her research interests include climate change through the lens of food systems, and animal agriculture, specifically animal legal theory and religious-philosophical approaches to animal studies. She is curious how cross-disciplinary approaches to animal and environmental law can inform our understanding of, and relationship with, the natural world– such as in the cases of animal agriculture, factory farming, and the rights of nature. Her secondary research explores religion in the ancient world, which provides a powerful tool for juxtaposition and analysis of our own socio-cultural moral location through investigating how ancient populations considered animals and the environment.
Madeline is a contributor to the University of Toronto’s Brooks Animal Law Digest: Canadian Edition. She also serves as the Vice President of the Harvard Divinity School Ecologians, an organization dedicated to fostering dialogue and exploring ways in which students as environmental stewards can imbue our religious engagement with ecological frameworks and sensibilities.
Prior to Harvard, Madeline graduated with distinction from Western University in 2024 with a B.A Honors Specialization in World Religion and Cultural Studies.
In her free time, Madeline enjoys plant-based cooking, ballet, and crafting with fibre arts.
The Salata Institute
The Salata Institute supports interdisciplinary research that leads to real-world action, including high-risk/high-reward projects by researchers already working in the climate area and new endeavors that make it easier for Harvard scholars, who have not worked on climate problems, to do so. Faculty interested in the Climate Research Clusters program should note an upcoming deadline for concepts on April 1, 2024.