LEAP Invites Applications for 2026 Student Grant Program

The Law, Environment & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School is inviting applications for its Student Grant Program. The program supports Yale student-led research and creative projects that advance understanding of, draw attention to, or develop strategies to address the urgent threats facing non-human animals. All current Yale students can submit proposals for term time and summer projects. 

Since its launch in 2021, the LEAP Student Grant Program has funded an expansive range of student-led projects. Last year’s grantees used their awards to direct and produce a documentary, study comparative farmed animal and biotechnology law, and examine the history of biological control. 

Projects supported by the program in 2025 include work by these students: 

Charlotte Leib, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Yale University, researched the history of the ways in which oil pollution affected bird life in and around the New Jersey Meadowlands during the ascent of the area’s initial oil economy. Through archival research, interviews with expert ornithologists, and site visits, she traced the development of oil infrastructure and its impact on bird populations, and tells the story in “Healing Wounds Of Light: Birds, Cities And The Fast, Slow, And Forgotten Violence Of Artificial Illumination.” Her research on this topic will also be included in a chapter in her dissertation.

David Rosenbloom, a senior at Yale College, created a photography exhibition, “Animals, in Plain Sight.” The exhibition explored animal sentience and individuality, challenging the way in which animals, particularly farmed animals, are often rendered invisible in the industrialized food system, and encouraging new modes of thinking about the human-animal relationship.

Emily Brookfield, a second-year Master of Divinity candidate at Yale Divinity School, explored the ethics and legality of animal sacrifice, with a particular focus on the Kapparot ritual. Through interviews with participants from the Orthodox Jewish community, Jewish faith leaders, and animal advocates, she investigated the ways in which allyship can be formed across groups with different beliefs, how animals are present and should be present in various faiths, and and the way in which the public nature of the sacrifice impacts the relationship between certain animal advocates and the ritual’s participants. 

The deadline for submitting a proposal is Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 12 p.m. ET. 

Interested students can find detailed grant information and application instructions on LEAP’s website. 

For questions, contact LEAP Litigation & Program Fellow Naomi Jennings.