Conference Programme
Programme
Please note, the programme is still subject to minor changes. The programme was last updated on Tuesday 26 May 2026.
Science for Animal Welfare Centenary Conference 2026
100 Years of Science for Animal Welfare
Senate House, University of London | 23–25 June 2026
Day 1 — Tuesday 23 June
Day 2 — Wednesday 24 June
Day 3 — Thursday 25 June
Tuesday 23 June 2026
Senate House, LondonPlenary
Symposium
ECR Award
Short Talks
Break / Lunch
| Time | Beveridge Hall | Chancellors Hall |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Opening / Introduction | |
| 09:30 |
Symposium 1
Animal Welfare Science: Past, Present, and Future
Chair: Huw Golledge
(Hu)Man and Beast – Where are our blind spots now?Sophia HeppleVeterinary Advisor, Welfare Team, Animal and Plant Health Agency
The ethical core of ULAWS/UFAW and its early developmentsJes Lynning HarfeldAssociate Professor, Department of Culture and Communication, University of Aalborg
TBCMike RadfordReader in Animal Welfare Law, University of Aberdeen
Sympathy without sentimentality’: UFAW’s contribution to the past, present (and future?) of cultures of animal care.Robert KirkReader in Medical History and Humanities, University of Manchester
| |
| 10:50 | ☕ Break | |
| 11:30 |
Symposium 1
Animal Welfare Science: Past, Present, and Future | |
| 12:20 |
ECR Award
The challenge of interspecies welfare comparisons Heather Browning University of Southampton, UK | |
| 12:40 | 🍽 Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Chair: Zoe Barker, University of Reading, UK What Drives Treatment Decisions and NSAID Use in Pre-Weaned Calves? A Mixed-Methods Study of Farmers and Veterinarians Virginia Sherwin University of Nottingham, UK | Chair: Anna Olsson, University of Porto, Portugal Stakes and states: what can risk-sensitive foraging tell us about affect in rats? Vikki Neville University of Bristol, UK |
| 14:20 | Enhancing Dairy Cattle Welfare through Precision Veterinary Monitoring Samuel Demssie Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia | Does N-acetylcysteine Treat Stereotypies in Laboratory Mice? Sarah Avendano Stanford University, USA |
| 14:40 | Foster Cow–Calf Rearing in Dairy Systems: Implications for Welfare, Behaviour, and Productivity: A Scoping Review Ryann McCready University of British Columbia, Canada | Rabbit Ear Disease and Welfare: Identifying Conformation‑Related Risks and Indicators of Hidden Disease Maria Jackson Royal Veterinary College, UK |
| 15:00 Short Talks |
Pigs as fussy as cats: how individual differences in food preferences shape behavioural testing trajectoriesIrene CamerlinkPolish Academy of Sciences, Poland Rethinking positive animal welfare indicators: The composition of grooming behaviour in calvesLaura WhalinNorwegian Veterinary Institute, Norway Heat Stress as a Chronic Welfare Challenge in Dairy Cattle: Moving from Physiological Indicators to Valid Measures of Affective StateSerdal DikmenBursa Uludağ University, Turkey Individual differences in dairy heifer motivation to access spaceMalina SuchonUniversity of British Columbia, Canada | Opening the cage on pet rat introductionsCaitlin WalburnUniversity of Bristol, UK Improving welfare via a strategic approach to Replacement: why and how.Amy BealeReplacing Animal Research, UK Animal Welfare Science in Veterinary Education: A mixed-method study of curriculum frameworks and teaching practices in Austria, Germany and SwitzerlandCarolin BreitenbachUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain |
| 15:20 | ☕ Break | |
| 16:10 | Chair: Ben Lecorps, University of Bristol, UK Effects of dark brooder rearing on hippocampal plasticity in adult laying hens Matthew Craven Newcastle University, UK | Chair: Anna Olsson, University of Porto, Portugal Turning science into enforceable law: the case for embedding indicators in new and revised EU legislation Elena Nalon Eurogroup for Animals, Belgium |
| 16:30 | Pragmatism bias in farmed animal welfare science eva read London School of Economics, UK | AI Governance and Innovation for Animal Welfare: Veterinary, Professional and Ethical Aspects in Animal Agriculture Raymond Anthony University of Alaska Anchorage, USA |
| 16:50 | Beyond fear reduction: how experience and selection history shape chickens’ (Gallus gallus domesticus) use of humans as social buffers Vitor Ferreira INRAE, France | A scientific framework for navigating horse welfare science for the next 100 years? Karen Luke Melbourne, Australia |
| 17:10 Short Talks |
Social facilitation in hens' use of edible enrichments: Do birds of a feather peck together?Madeleine McAuleyUniversity of Guelph, Canada Methods to assess physiological effects of keel bone fracture development and healing in commercial laying hensKathrin HinzAarhus University, Denmark The effects of pecking blocks on laying hen distribution and piling events in commercial barnsViolet HipkinUniversity of Guelph, Canada Validation of an automated system for at-slaughter assessment of footpad dermatitis and hock burn in broiler chickensBas RodenburgUtrecht University, Netherlands | “Somewhat scientific”: UK undergraduate views of animal welfare as a concept and scientific disciplineBeth VenturaMichigan State University, USA Grounded in science: The value of animal welfare science from an end-user perspectiveJo HockenhullThe Donkey Sanctuary, UK Consumer Demand, Intervention Efficacy and Potential Canine Welfare Implications of the Puppy Trade: Evidence from Temporal and Linguistic Patterns in Classified Online AdvertsKatharine Eloise RossRoslin Institute / University of Edinburgh, UK When dogs play, they sound different: distinctive acoustic features of Play-Panting in dogs.Paula Perez FragaEötvös Loránd University, Hungary |
| 17:30 | Chair: Ben Lecorps, University of Bristol, UK What does it take to make a difference? Joseph Garner Stanford University, USA | |
| 18:00 | 🥂 Drinks Reception | |
Wednesday 24 June 2026
Senate House, LondonPlenary
Symposium
Short Talks
Break / Lunch
| Time | Beveridge Hall | Chancellors Hall |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Opening / Introduction | |
| 09:10 |
Plenary
UFAW Medal Lecture Working in Animal Welfare: A journey from farm girl to scientist Marina von Keyserlingk University of British Columbia, Canada | |
| 09:50 | Chair: Siobhan Abeysinghe, Royal Veterinary College, UK A Five-Realms Framework for Animal Welfare Katarína Bučková National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan | Chair: Mia Cobb, University of Melbourne, Australia Knowledge isn’t power? Awareness and experience of intervertebral disc disease does little to deter acquisition and re-acquisition of Dachshunds and French bulldogs Rowena Packer Royal Veterinary College, UK |
| 10:10 | Describing the characteristics of feasibility when selecting potential (positive) animal welfare indicators for on-farm assessment Heng-Lun Ko Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain | Just toss in a toy? A meta-analytic appraisal of captive primate environmental enrichment Luke Duncan University of Warwick, UK |
| 10:30 | The Benchmark Method – a way to make aggregated animal welfare comparisons across production systems, between countries and over time Peter Sandøe University of Copenhagen, Denmark | Associations between judgement bias and other indicators of affective state: a way to advance wild animal welfare science? Janire Castellano Bueno Wild Animal Initiative, USA |
| 10:50 | Short talks | |
| 11:00 | Public Attitudes Towards the Fate of Non-releasable Marine MammalsBianca VandresenUniversity of British Columbia, Canada Raising the Bar: How Shell Powers Up Animal Welfare Beyond Regulatory MinimumsMarlly GuarinShell, Netherlands Avoiding a polarised future: Synthesising diverse perspectives on the future of farm animal welfare in CanadaKatherine KoraleskyUniversity of British Columbia, Canada |
What Can Be Learned from the Effects of Dog-Assisted Therapy on Human PTSD and Canine Welfare?Avi AvitalUniversity of Haifa, Israel Impact of Resource Availability on Health and Welfare of Community Cats Across ColoniesNattawipa AmpaiwanMichigan State University, USA Assessing Reliability of Cat Health Measurements Collected In-home by CaregiversGrace BooneUniversity of California Davis, USA Support-seeking and rehoming pathways differ by surrender circumstances among companion animal guardiansLexis LyUniversity of British Columbia, Canada |
| 11:10 | ☕ Break | |
| 11:50 | Chair: Jean-Loup Rault, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria The Welfare Footprint Framework: A Modular Architecture for Quantifying and Comparing Animal Experience Across Systems Wladimir Alonso Welfare Footprint Institute, USA | Chair: Eleftherios Kasiouras, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Hatchery design matters: reducing otolith deformities through environmental enrichment in coho salmon Leigh Gaffney University of Victoria, Canada |
| 12:10 | Assurance or artifice: Why doesn't transparency always improve animal welfare? Mia Cobb University of Melbourne, Australia | Towards sustainable aquaculture: A stakeholder analysis of shrimp welfare challenges Syamira Syazuna Zaini Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia |
| 12:30 | Optimising the selection of welfare indicators in farm animals Jon Day Cerebrus Advies, Netherlands | Substrate deprivation as a major unrecognized welfare challenge in the world's most farmed aquatic species (Litopenaeus vannamei) Benjamin Wilden Welfare Footprint Institute, USA |
| 12:50 | 🍽 Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Chair: Stephanie Buijs, AFBI, UK Improving lifetime welfare of pigs and chickens by automated monitoring of animal welfare measures at slaughter – progress made by the aWISH project Frank Tuyttens ILVO, Belgium | Chair: Samantha Ward, Nottingham Trent University, UK EFSA’s welfare assessment of animals kept for fur production Marika Vitali EFSA, Italy |
| 14:20 | Behavioural freedoms or freedom to suffer? Evaluating the welfare of free-living animals Cathy Dwyer SRUC, UK | |
| 14:40 | Short talks | |
| 14:50 | Do Sick Calves Isolate? Changes in Lying Behaviour and Space Use During DiarrheaHeather NeavePurdue University, USA Exploring the relationships between immune markers and behaviours reflecting affective states in pigletsLiesbeth BolhuisWageningen University & Research, Netherlands Changes in locomotor play, social play, and reward sensitivity after disbudding in calvesAmelia St John WallisUniversity of Bristol, UK The influence of perforated rubber mats on sow (Sus scrofa) locomotion and welfareJen-Yun ChouUniversity of Saskatchewan, Canada |
Reducing chronic welfare compromise in farmed Nile tilapia through water quality management and farmer awareness in EgyptWasseem EmamEthical Seafood Research, UK Doing better for zoo-housed birds - key considerations for welfare assessment frameworksPaul RoseUniversity of Exeter, UK Increasing the visibility of animal welfare impacts in prosecutions for illegal wildlife trade through the use of species victim impact statementsAmanda WhitfortUniversity of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Integrating Psychosocial Resilience into Humane Endings for LivestockScott KramerBirmingham, USA |
| 15:00 | ☕ Break | |
| 15:40 | Chair: Emily Craven, University of Nottingham, UK From evidence to impact: Building evidence-based animal welfare policy and practice Jessica Cait Charles River Laboratories, USA | |
| 16:10 |
Symposium 2
How can we make animal welfare research more reproducible?
Chair: Birte Nielsen | |
| 16:20 | From protocol to practice: Using ethical review to improve animal welfare and research replicability Aileen MacLellan University of Ottawa, Canada | |
| 16:30 | Testing replicability across laboratories: Inter-observer reliability on an ethogram for affiliative behaviour in pigs Marie Bordes Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain | |
| 16:40 | Panel Discussion (45 minutes) Charlotte BurnRoyal Veterinary College, UK Christian NawrothResearch Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Germany Georgia MasonUniversity of Guelph, Canada Joseph GarnerStanford University, USA | |
| 17:30 | End of Day 2 | |
| TBC | 🥂 Networking Reception — Generously sponsored by AAALAC International | Separate ticket required | |
Thursday 25 June 2026
Senate House, LondonPlenary
Symposium
Short Talks
Break / Lunch
| Time | Beveridge Hall | Chancellors Hall |
|---|---|---|
| 09:50 | Opening / Introduction | |
| 10:00 |
Plenary
Animal health and welfare: Time for a refresh? Chair: Bas Rodenburg, Utrecht University, Netherlands Alistair Lawrence Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), UK | |
| 10:40 | ☕ Break | |
| 11:20 | Chair: Christian Nawroth, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Germany Precision Welfare Monitoring in Dairy Cattle via Continuous Social Tracking, Personality Dimensions, and Voluntary Optimism Bias Testing Oren Forkosh Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel | Chair: Aileen MacLellan, University of Ottawa, Canada Cold nose, warm heart? Rethinking primate nasal temperature decreases in relation to affect Julia Machado Nottingham Trent University, UK |
| 11:40 | Do calves show conditioned place aversion to pain 2 days post-disbudding despite gold standard pain relief? Beth Ledger University of Bristol, UK | Large numbers of very small animals: when, how, and why do neonatal laboratory mouse pups die? Anna Olsson University of Porto, Portugal |
| 12:00 | Can weaner pigs use 23 mm drinking nipples provided during long-distance transport? Jeanne Verlaat Aarhus University, Denmark | Does shelter type matter? A preference-driven approach to refine laboratory mouse housing Janja Novak University of Bern, Switzerland |
| 12:20 Short Talks |
Pasture access improves several aspects of dairy cattle welfare during the grazing seasonLaura McAnallyAFBI, UK Supplementation with galacto-oligosaccharides increases Bifidobacterium and brain serotonin without changing severe feather pecking in hens at peak layAnna Lea NicklasUniversity of Guelph, Canada Are dairy cows better off in organic farms? A systematic reviewPhilippa YoungUniversity of Bristol, UK Nociception and reactivity to milking in dairy cows challenged with lipopolysaccharide-induced mastitisEmeline NoguesAarhus University, Denmark | Huts as a refined handling method for laboratory miceMaya BodnarUniversity of British Columbia, Canada Reproducibility Matters: Why Image Integrity is Essential for Animal WelfareHelene Dragelund GarciaUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark Handling Rabbits: Impact of Technique on the Behaviour of Exhibition Rabbits During and After JudgingHelaina CressyRoyal Veterinary College, UK From law, through policy, to welfare: lessons learnt from the new EU law on welfare of Canis familiaris and Felis catusIwona MertinEurogroup for Animals, Belgium |
| 12:40 | 🍽 Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Chair: Jo Edgar, University of Bristol, UK Progressive Welfare Inference: Using Existing Farm Data to Support Continuous Assessment of Animal Welfare in Dairy Cattle Syed Hussain RAFT Solutions, UK | Chair: Kate Fletcher, Humane Slaughter Association, UK Challenge accepted! Conducting impactful animal welfare research without using animals Anna Ratuski Stanford University, USA |
| 14:20 | Validity criteria for indicators of affective states at the individual level Colline Poirier Newcastle University, UK | Investigating Ending the Life of Decapod Crustaceans: Assessing Efficacy of Different Methods and Impact on Muscle Physiology in Norway Lobster and Signal Crayfish. Eleftherios Kasiouras University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 14:40 Short Talks |
Deciphering the neural basis of individual differences in reward sensitivity in pigsCharlotte GoursotFederal Veterinary Office, Switzerland Is welfare only a matter of the hedonic value of the environment?Isabelle VeissierINRAE, France Intra- and inter-observer reliability of scoring pig tear staining using tVAS after observer trainingKenny van LangeveldWageningen University & Research, Netherlands Beyond good handling: behavioural evidence for the welfare value of training during anaesthesia induction in pigsJennifer MeinCharité Berlin University Medicine, Germany | A Welfare Risk Assessment of Small-Scale Aquaculture Clusters in Southern NigeriaFelix NwoseDelta State University, Nigeria Quantifying the Effects of Water Quality on Fish Welfare and Productivity in Aquaculture: A Meta-Regression AnalysisJuyoung YangSeoul National University, South Korea Quantifying the welfare impact of preslaughter operations in Atlantic salmonChiawen ChiangWelfare Footprint Institute, USA |
| 15:00 | ☕ Break | |
| 15:40 |
Symposium 3
Assessing animal welfare
Chair: Birte Nielsen | |
| 15:40 | Overview of Assessing Animal Welfare – a guide to the valid use of indicators of affective states Georgia Mason and Mike Mendl University of Guelph, Canada & University of Bristol, UK Edited by Mason, Nielsen, and Mendl — published by Wiley for Science for Animal Welfare | |
| 16:20 | Panel discussion (questions and answers) Georgia Mason and Mike Mendl | |
| 16:50 | Closing Remarks — Birte Nielsen | |
| 17:10 | Conference Close | |
Social Events
Drinks Reception - Tuesday 23 June
Enjoy the conference posters and have a drink on us.
Networking Reception - Wednesday 24 June. Kindly supported by AAALAC International.
Some of the best conversations at any conference happen away from the formal programme. On the second evening of the conference, join us in Macmillan Hall at Senate House, a beautifully preserved art deco space in the heart of Bloomsbury, for an evening reception from 6pm. Over two hours of included drinks and seasonal bowl food , you'll have the time and space to connect with the researchers and practitioners who make up the science for animal welfare community.
Whether you're picking up a thread from earlier in the day or starting an entirely new conversation, this is the evening to do it.
The menu is vegetarian, with vegan options. Tickets are £63 per person, inclusive of food and drinks. Places are limited. We look forward to joining you for a fun evening in London!
Visit Jeremy Bentham (the Auto Icon )
Anyone with an interest in animal welfare will be aware of Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher and founder of modern utilitarianism and his iconic statement about animals:
‘The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?…’
What you may be unaware of, is that on the ground floor of UCL's Student Centre on Gordon Square stands a glass case, containing a figure which has been a source of curiosity and perplexity to visitors – that of Bentham’s preserved body!
In his will, made shortly before his death in June 1832, Bentham requested it be preserved for posterity:
‘My body I give to my dear friend Doctor Southwood Smith to be disposed of in a manner hereinafter mentioned, and I direct … he will take my body under his charge and take the requisite and appropriate measures for the disposal and preservation of the several parts of my bodily frame in the manner expressed in the paper annexed to this my will and at the top of which I have written Auto Icon……’
For those who are interested, there is an opportunity to view Bentham’s Auto-Icon during the conference. We will be taking groups of 20 during breaks on each day. The Auto-icon is a short walk away from the conference venue.
Our Sponsors
Our sponsors enable us to share the latest animal welfare science. We thank them for their support.
To enquire about becoming a sponsor, contact info@scienceforanimalwelfare.org.
