Monday 18 December 2017

Human behaviour change for animal welfare

Human behaviour change for animal welfare

As the year draws to a close, JMICAWE vet Heather Bacon made one final overseas trip, this time to Nepal to speak at the Asia for Animals Conference, themed on Human behaviour change for animal welfare.

Presenting on the value of academic-NGO relationships in developing strategies to change human behaviour and influence animal welfare, Heather used examples from our ongoing research and outreach work to illustrate the impact that JMICAWE is having on animal welfare around the world. You can read more about the Human behaviour change for animal welfare here: http://afakathmandu.com/theme/


The conference is the flagship programme of the Asia for Animals Coalition — 16 of the world’s leading animal protection organisations which have a shared focus on improving the welfare of animals in Asia. Speakers and workshops discussed a wide range of topics including veterinary training in China presented by Dr Sun, from the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, an organisation with whom the JMICAWE have partnered for several years.




“The conference is an inspiring collaboration between NGOs to highlight and champion the excellent work being done to improve animal welfare across Asia” Said Heather, “This year there was increasing academic representation from the UK as well as other countries, demonstrating the importance that academic-NGO collaboration has in supporting effective work in changing human behaviour and improving animal welfare.”



JMICAWE sponsored Naomi Clark-Shen (Singapore) & Judith Velarde (Philippines) [pictured here with Heather] to attend the AfA Conference



Monday 11 December 2017

Dr Fiona Lang joins JMICAWE team

Dr Fiona Lang joins JMICAWE team

We are delighted to welcome Dr Fiona Lang to the JMICAWE team! Fiona will be joining us for a year to lead on a project to identify the main priorities for animal welfare in the UK, funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation of the BVA. Fiona, a former PhD student at SRUC, brings with her a wealth of expertise in dairy cow and pig welfare, as well as having recently completed a set of Canadian guidelines for the welfare of buffalo. Fiona is also interested in the welfare of street dogs, and veterinary education in Central America.

This new project will involve liaising with experts in animal welfare and management across the UK to reach a consensus view on which areas of animal welfare are the most pressing concerns for future research and policy efforts.


Welcome to the team, Fiona!  


Wednesday 6 December 2017

Cows, welfare and farming in India

Cows, welfare and farming in India

Cathy Dwyer recently joined fellow Vet School colleagues, Gurpreet Grewal-Kang, GurĂ¥ Berkvist and Harish Lochun, on a trip to Delhi and the Punjab in India.

The trip focused on developing new partnerships in animal welfare and veterinary medicine as well as visiting current collaborators and promoting the new Global Academy in Agriculture and Food Security.  The team visited the Nabha foundation in the Punjab, to see the work the foundation are doing in promoting organic production methods, particularly focusing on a reduction in pesticide use even in non-organic production, and increasing food safety.

We also visited projects encouraging traditional craft methods and providing opportunities for women’s empowerment in Indian villages, as well as visiting a gowshala (cow sanctuary).

In Delhi we returned to visit colleagues at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, with whom we are currently writing a new distance learning course on animal welfare, and at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal, as well as visiting the University of Delhi.


Cathy says ‘It was a really inspiring trip. It was fascinating to learn more about the great projects that are helping to support women in rural communities and to look at ways that the University can help support these. It was also lovely to catch up with researchers and their students at NDRI, who are developing some really interesting research in buffalo and cattle behaviour and welfare. We are hoping to be able to work with this group more in the future to help support their work.’





Tuesday 5 December 2017

Graduation for IAWEL MSc students

Dr Fritha Langford, Programme Director, writes:-

We were delighted that so many of our online International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law graduands made it to Edinburgh for their MSc Graduation ceremony in our newly refurbished, magnificent graduation hall. We are very proud of their hard work and dedication and are looking forward to hearing the next steps in their career involved in improving animal lives. As usual, we had a huge variety of projects completed in the masters year including:

  • “An assessment of an educational intervention on the knowledge and attitudes of Indian national veterinarians to animal welfare”
  • “Exploring inter-observer reliability and feasibility in animal welfare measures at a large equine rescue facility”
  • “The ethics of bringing wild African elephants into zoos”
  • “The reporting of post-operative pain management in rodents undergoing experimental surgery”



Many of our IAWEL graduates joined us for a celebratory lunch with their families and we were able to chat about their projects, the future and delight in the fact we were all face to face with one another!  We wish them all the best for the future.