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Animal Welfare

Our Research

Animal welfare is a growing scientific discipline reflecting considerable public concern. Our research in animal welfare is led by a multi-disciplinary team of international experts, who work with a variety of animals including laboratory, farm, companion, and zoo animals.

Our work addresses fundamental research questions relating to the development of novel observational, experimental, and computational methods to measure and understand animal welfare and associated emotional or affective states. Our work also applies these methods to determine how to improve the lives of animals.

Within the scope of animal welfare assessment, we investigate two main areas:

  • Development of novel measures of animal welfare
  • Assessment of animal welfare

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Key Personnel and Expertise

Academics

Professor Oliver Burman – cold blooded care; novel methods of welfare assessment

Professor Anna Wilkinson – cold blooded cognition; cold blooded care

Professor Daniel Mills – animal affective systems and individual differences in behaviour; pheromonatherapy; clinical trials for problem behaviour management

Dr Jonathan Cooper – welfare consequences and efficacy of electronic training aids; lay a hen welfare; rabbits special requirements; stereotypic behaviour

Dr Ambrose Tinarwo – outdoor cat behaviour and welfare; behaviour and welfare of pet rabbits

Dr Stefan Milson – biomarkers of stress

Dr Tom Pike – model animal behaviour; the use of technologies in the assessment of animal behaviour cognition and welfare

Dr Helen Zulch – post-adoption adjustment in dogs; novel assessment of stress in dogs

 

Postgraduate Researcher and Technical Staff

Agnese Crisante – does ownership impact perception of reptile cognitive abilities and welfare needs; does environmental enrichment impact bearded dragons welfare and cognition; how different living conditions impact bearded dragons physiology; all is not equal: public perception of cognitive abilities and suffering in different species of pet animals; microbiome and behaviour of working dogs

Erica Chung – perceptions of welfare issues in the equine industry

Dr Beth Ventura – ManyGoats: a multi site research initiative for goat cognition, behaviour and welfare; pain relief and assessment in goat kids

Dr Claire Ricci-Bonot – separation anxiety in horses; recognition in emotions in horses; enrichment in donkeys

Dr Ana Maria Barcelos – companion animal welfare assessment and management

Dr Luciana de Assis – characterization of interactions between owners and dogs and its relationship with dog behaviour; novel approaches to the investigation of separation related problems in dogs; understanding landlord’s perspectives about pet-friendly rental properties

 

Research Students

Tom Rowland – network theory and methods in animal welfare

Iwan Sion Evans – object manipulation behaviour in zoo housed Asian small-clawed otters

Jackie Braggs – environmental scratching in cats

Lulu Xu – emotion regulation in dogs; the influence in human ethnicity and culture on emotion regulation in dogs

Kelsey Grace Felder – applying gopher tortoise cognition to their conservation

Nicki Phillips – how does perception of zoo animal welfare influence public attitudes, experiences, and behavioural intentions? A mixed-methods systematic review

Dr Francesca Guagliumi – novel methods of assessing pain in dogs

Ann Baslington-Davies – assessing the risk factors in human directed bites

Rebecca Sumner – touchscreen system to provide cognitive enrichment for dogs in kennels

Julia Mettler – can sleep-like behaviours be used as a welfare indicator in fish?

Jessica Stark – welfare audits in primates

Bethany Moyer – acquisition and adjustment in dogs