From our range of extra curricular student activities to our animal welfare conference, AWF is supporting the next generation of animal welfare advocates
Before AWF was set up in 1983, animal welfare was not on the veterinary curriculum nor recognised as a topic worthy of research. We bridged this gap by establishing the Colleen McLeod Chair of Animal Welfare in Cambridge in 1986. This resulted in Donald Broom becoming the world’s first Professor of Animal Welfare, paving the way for many more animal welfare educators to follow in his footsteps – there are now about 40 animal welfare professors in the UK, and around 300 in the world.
In 2003, AWF established animal welfare lectureships in Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool Universities and worked towards integrating animal welfare into the veterinary curriculum. AWF lecturers, David Main, Jennifer Duncan and Dorothy McKeegan, worked together to develop a new framework for animal welfare teaching in the UK. Each post covered slightly different, but complementary, aspects of welfare: applied welfare assessment and improvement; quality of life assessments; and epidemiology/bio-security. The four-year lectureship project became permanent in 2008 with the determined support of all three universities, laying the foundations for animal welfare to become a key part of veterinary education.
Thanks to AWF’s £1M investment into the chair and lectureships, a generation of vets has qualified with a deeper understanding of animal welfare.
Today, we continue to support the next generation of animal welfare advocates aiming to educate and inspire students to become future leaders in animal welfare. We do this by offering free student talks, free downloadable case studies and evidence-based guidance to support veterinary professionals in their work.
Finally, we provide free animal welfare advice resources for owners, approved by vets on a variety of topics including euthanasia, poisons, exercise and puppy purchasing.
