Animal Welfare

Towards a good life for all animals under our care

Animal welfare is becoming an increasingly important topic in our society. Our research group is developing methods to assess animal welfare more accurately. We try to ask the animal itself how it experiences its own living conditions. We do this by looking at the choices that animals make, their behavior and body posture and by listening to the sounds that animals make.

We are also increasingly using modern techniques such as AI, sensors to track animals and sound analysis using bioacoustics. These techniques offer us the opportunity to continuously monitor animals and thus make more informed statements regarding their welfare. With this knowledge we contribute to improving animal welfare in practice.

By developing methods to better measure animal welfare, we provide tools to improve animal welfare in practice

Using computer vision approaches allows us to track individual animals in group housing

One Welfare

Within the One Welfare theme, we investigate whether the wellbeing of veterans with PTSD and their families can benefit from interactions with dogs or horses. Not only the wellbeing of the humans is taken into account, but also the welfare of the animals.

Research has shown that there is a link between animal abuse and domestic violence. Teaching and research are also done into this link, to get more knowledge and interfere more quickly to prevent violence against animals and humans. 

The One Welfare approach stresses that animal welfare and human well-being are interconnected

Animal welfare & sustainability

Transitions toward sustainability are critical to ensure health and welfare of all living beings. The path toward environmental sustainability can improve animal health and welfare, but is also sometimes at odds with animal interests despite animal welfare increasingly being included in definitions of sustainability. We build on the  in-depth knowledge on animal welfare in the Animal Welfare team, in interdisciplinary collaborations with broad range of expertise: from law and policy to biodiversity and transdisciplinary work with stakeholders. This is done from the long-term aim of working toward sustainable transitions that take a wide range of perspectives, including that of animals, into account.

Knowledge of animal welfare is crucial to work toward sustainable futures for humans and animals

AI, ethics and animal welfare

Many animal-related issues are too complex to be tackled by the methods of veterinary science alone. Particularly subjecting animals to AI-based technologies which have the potential to fundamentally change our notions and practices of animal handling and care may be reason for new societal concerns. For a successful implementation of AI-based solutions, it is important to stay ahead of and to be able to respond to these concerns. This can only be achieved by a systematic and strategic approach to transdisciplinary collaboration.

To advance our understanding of animal welfare we need to move beyond discipline specific assumptions and concepts

Our team members