Prof. Alistair Lawrence (SRUC): The science, relevance and challenge of positive animal welfare. School of Psychology and Neuroscience Friday seminar series

The School of Psychology and Neuroscience seminar series presents a talk by Prof. Alistair Lawrence (SRUC), titled “The science, relevance and challenge of positive animal welfare”, which will be hosted by Dr Manon Schweinfurth in Seminar Room 1 and accessible online through MS Teams.

Abstract:
Animal welfare historically has been focused on preventing suffering in domesticated animals. Positive animal welfare (PAW) is a relatively recent concept that emphasises the importance of providing animals with positive experiences if they are to have good welfare and live good lives. I will describe the origins of PAW before looking in more detail at the main aspects that have been used to define the concept in the literature. I will use our research on tickling rats as an example of PAW research before looking at the potential benefits that can emerge when taking a PAW perspective. I will end with a look forward to the challenges that PAW raises with respect to our use of animals to produce food and as experimental subjects.