Anna Mulà, an animal law expert of great international prestige in animal advocacy, has been appointed UPF-CAE Fellowship for the period 2024-2026. 

Throughout her 25 years of professional experience in the public and private spheres, Mulà has made an exceptional contribution to animal advocacy through advice, activism, legal drafting and defence, complaints, training, awareness-raising and research. She has been a key figure in the promotion of animal law in Catalonia, in the rest of Spain and in other countries such as Portugal and Latin America, promoting animal law commissions in bar associations, starting with her role as a very active member of the Animal Rights Commission of the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB). 

In addition, she has been crucial in the implementation of legislative changes of great relevance for the evolution of animal rights at national and international level. In this sense, her participation in the legislative process that resulted in the prohibition of bullfighting in Catalonia; in the first autonomous law in the Spanish state that eliminated the use of animals in circuses; in the approval of the reform of the state Civil Code that recognised animals as sentient beings, and in being the designer of the strategy that led the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to pronounce itself on the violation that exposure to the violence of bullfighting, and to practices of violence against animals in general, represents for minors. 

Mulà has been a legal advisor, and has collaborated with entities such as the Franz Weber Foundation, the association of legal operators INTERcids, or the Spanish Parliamentary Association in Defence of Animals of the Congress of Deputies (APDDA), among others. She is also a member and representative of the Municipal Council for coexistence, defence and protection of animals in the Consell de Ciutat of Barcelona City Council. 

Mulà also stands out for his teaching contribution through courses, postgraduate and master's degree programmes given at the ICAB, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (Master's Degree in CITES). She has been a speaker at a long list of national and international events, such as the European Animal Rights Law Conference (University of Cambridge). She is a member of the expert committee of the Journal of Animal Law & Interdisciplinary Animal Welfare / Revista de Derecho Animal y Estudios Interdisciplinarios de Bienestar Animal (JAL & IAWS) and the author of numerous legal-scientific articles.

Since 2024, the UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics has been awarding two three-year Senior Fellowships to established academic and non-academic profiles who have made an outstanding intellectual contribution in the field of animal welfare. The Centre's Board of Trustees is responsible for proposing candidates. The Board of Trustees unanimously decided to award this recognition to Anna Mulà for her enormous contribution to animal advocacy, for her influence not only in the national but also in the international context. This position will allow the establishment of a formal relationship between the UPF-CAE and this outstanding lawyer to promote and contribute to both her work in the field of animal advocacy and that of the UPF Centre for Animal Ethics.

Full CV of Anna Mulà