Furry Studies 2025

Furry in the World; The World in Furry
Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA / Online
31st October 2025

The theme of the first Furry Studies conference was “Being Furry”, which allowed for a variety of proposals and acted as a strong basis for the field’s inception. The conference aimed to inspire discussions around what it means to be furry, especially given that ‘if you ask ten furries to define what furry is, you’ll end up with eleven different answers’. It resulted in a series of unique and in-depth discussions of furry by academics, practitioners, and the wider furry community.

Keynote: Rod O’Riley

Rod O’Riley is the writing and performing name chosen by a humble and ordinary human being. That human is a hazardous materials consultant by day, songwriter by night, and many other things in the hours in between. A native of Los Angeles, raised in his parents’ native Vancouver (BC), and schooled all over the West Coast. Currently he’s been learning the fine art of bass playing, music production, and letting the computer take care of the hard parts. Active as an organizer of science fiction fandom, he finds time (somehow) to be an activist for animal rights, queer rights, and anarchism. Much of his notoriety stems from the fact that he and his late husband, Mark Merlino, were among the first folks to ever organize meetups for what would come to be known as Furry Fandom – and later, they would launch the first ever furry-themed fandom convention, ConFurence, in 1989.