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Oct 2025

1. Connect with us: We have a new LinkedIn page & a new email address AnimalWelfare.Centre@ed.ac.uk
2. Policy consultation: Prof Susan Jarvis attended the Scottish Parliament and participated in the Round Table Discussion on Farrowing Crates, Chaired by Jim Fairlie – Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Scotland
3. New publication: Assessing the welfare of smallholder pigs in Vietnam with our collaborators International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) & the University of Sydney. Dang-Xuan, S. et al. (2025) Assessing the welfare of smallholder pigs in Vietnam using a pilot protocol. Tropical animal health and production. [Online] 57 (8), 392.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-025-04602-5
4. New publication: Gatehouse, E. et al. (2025) Assessment of a behavioral scale for the measurement of fear, anxiety and stress in dogs visiting the veterinary practice. Journal of veterinary behavior. [Online] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2025.08.008
5. New publication and conference: Dr Rebecca Doyle (Centre Director) was a part of the team publishing the paper "Animal welfare for production and working animals: evidence and need for action”. Rebecca presented key messages from this paper at the FAO 2025 Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation (29 Sept-1 Oct). Read more and link to publications - ‘Featured Activities’ webpage
6. Visitors: In September, colleagues from the Centre and the School met a group of veterinary students from Japan, as part of an established exchange programme with Hokkaido University. Read more on our ‘Featured Activities’ webpage
7. Symposiums: This World Animal Day, SRUC hosted a collaborative event with University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow, with speakers and PhD students from all groups presenting their work. Prof Cathy Dwyer, previous director of the Animal Welfare Centre, presented at the China Animal Health and Food Safety Alliance (CAFA) on A good life for pigs and Dr Vicky Sandilands (SRUC) presented on Broiler welfare.

Sept 2025

1. New Centre Director: Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Doyle who has been appointed as the new Director for the Animal Welfare Centre. Rebecca is jointly appointed with the University of Edinburgh and the International Livestock research Institute (ILRI). She is also a member of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) where she coordinates the Animal Welfare Action Network.  Weblink
2. New Programme Directors: We would like to congratulate the following who have been appointed as Co-directors for the MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare – Prof. Susan Jarvis and Cynthia Naydani; Online MSc International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law - Dr Sarah Brown and Dr Jill MacKay.
3. Welcome: We would like to offer a warm welcome to all our new and returning MSc students. We look forward to seeing you in-person and online and we encourage you to engage with activities across campus, the University and keep in touch through our various social media channels. Vet School Postgraduate webpage
4. New publication: Otani, Y. et al. (2025) Cross-cultural variation in understanding of animal welfare principles and animal management practices among veterinary and animal welfare professionals in the UK and Japan. Animal welfare. [Online] 34. https://doi.org/10.1017/awf.2025.10026
5. Conference: Dr Sarah Brown and Dr Michelle Reeves attended the ISAE meeting in Utrecht, Netherlands. Sarah’s presentation formed part of an NC3Rs funded project, ‘Affective bias testing confirms sex differences in rats’ preference for how they are tickled’ and Michelle presented research completed during her PhD at SRUC, ‘Assessing ewe welfare: ewe-lamb distance measured by Bluetooth Low Energy data’.
6. Visitors: The Centre hosted the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare at R(D)SVS, over the summer, for a workshop where we presented our work alongside colleagues from SRUC, and discussed how animal welfare changes are enacted by GCAW members.
7. Symposium: Dr Rebecca Doyle presented at the ‘sharing knowledge between R(D)SVS and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt (FVM-MU), on 1 Sept 2025. Rebecca’s talk ‘the role of animal welfare in One Health’.

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