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Congratulations to our graduating students
The Animal Welfare Program is excited to celebrate the graduation of several students! Maria Chen with her MSc and Katelyn Mills, Ben Lecorps and Thomas Ede with their PhD! In addition to these graduate students, several undergraduate students have actively been working with the program this year through undergraduate theses or directed studies. Congratulations! Alex…
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Using Realistic Evaluation to understand how interventions work on dairy farms
A new study by AWP researchers used Realistic Evaluation to understand how an intervention to help farmers modify and use standard operating procedures (SOP) for colostrum management worked in different contexts. Farmer reasoning about the purpose and utility of the SOP, plus how they used SOP resources, impacted intervention success. To facilitate change, interventions should…
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Dr. von Keyserlingk to discuss animal care practices in the upcoming Hoard’s Dairyman webinar
Hoard’s Dairyman‘s next monthly webinar will be Monday, June 14 at noon (Central time). Nina von Keyserlingk from the University of British Columbia will present “Reimagining the future of dairy – Maintaining our social license by improving animal welfare.” Many common practices on dairy farms are subject to criticism by consumers and other stakeholders. During…
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Public attitudes toward dairy farm practices and technology related to milk production
One modern approach to addressing animal welfare-related challenges in agricultural systems is through technological solutions (e.g. genetic modification, plant-based milk). New research by AWP researchers, published today in PLoS ONE (https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250850), evaluated public attitudes toward current approaches and technological alternatives to common welfare issues on dairy farms. While previous studies assess attitudes toward individual issues,…
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AWP students recognized at LFS Grad Student Conference
Congratulations to all presenters at the 2021 LFS Graduate Student Conference, showcasing the wide breadth of programs within the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. The Animal Welfare Program was pleased to see so many of our current students recognized among the winners: Poster Presentation Winners 1st Place: Kai von Kentzell, Investigation into owner-reported differences between foreign-…
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Dr. Ruan Daros Alumni Profile
Associate Professor at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná in Curitiba, State of Paraná, Brazil What brought you to the Animal Welfare Program?I came to know the program through the long term collaboration between the AWP and LETA (Applied ethology and animal welfare lab at the Federal University of Santa Catarina – Brazil). What have you…
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International Women’s Day 2021
Happy International Women’s Day! UBC’s President Dr. Santa Ono is recognizing one of our amazing graduate students today as an Unsung Hero – Nadia Xenakis! Hear his comments on IWD and Nadia’s contribution to Animal Welfare and the UBC community. Weekly Update, March 5, 2021: International Women’s Day
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Dr. Sara Dubois Alumni Profile
Chief Scientific Officer at the BC SPCA and Adjunct Professor at UBC in Vancouver, BC What brought you to the Animal Welfare Program? In 2000 when I was looking for opportunities after my BSc it was the only graduate program I found that could allow me to merge my interests in caring for individual wild…
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World Wildlife Day 2021!
The United Nations General Assembly declares today, March 3rd, as World Wildlife Day! This year the theme is Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet. Today celebrates the central role of forests, as well as species and ecosystems in general in sustaining the lives of millions around the world. Here in the AWP, and LFS…
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Using facial expression to assess human empathy toward farm animals undergoing painful procedures
New research by UBC researchers Lexis Ly and Dan Weary, today published in PloS One, shows that human facial expressions can be used to assess human-animal empathy. Facial expressions have been used previously to evaluate human-human empathy, but this study provides the first evidence that facial expressions provide a valid method to assess human empathy…