Humane education trailblazer named Oxford Honorary Fellow

Louise van der Merwe, founder of The Humane Education Trust, has been named the thirteenth Honorary Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

The South African organisation promotes humane education in schools, universities, and veterinary training.

Professor Andrew Linzey, director of the centre, said: “In a world of what seems increasing violence, helping young people to strive for a more humane and less violent world is an ethical imperative.

“Louise has been a trailblazer in this cause and deserves worldwide recognition.”

A journalist by profession, Ms van der Merwe has spent her career promoting care and respect for all life through formal education.

She has also compiled and edited Animal Voice, a magazine documenting the development of animal ethics in Africa over the past 30 years.

Her approach reinforces the 2016 South African Constitutional Court ruling that animals are sentient beings with intrinsic value and capable of suffering.

The Oxford Centre’s Honorary Fellowship is its highest accolade, reserved for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to animal protection or the centre itself.

To further recognise her achievements, The Palgrave Companion to Humane Education, edited by Clair Linzey and Andrew Linzey, is dedicated to her.

It is the first international Companion volume to focus on humane education.

Past Honorary Fellows include Nobel Laureate Professor J.M. Coetzee, University of Winchester vice-chancellor Professor Joy Carter, and multi-Emmy award winner Bob Barker.