UBC Animal Welfare Program

Home
Canada
Vancouver, BC
UBC Animal Welfare Program

Call Directions Website Contact the school

Our Mission: To improve the lives of animals through research, education and outreach. Part of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC.

In its first decade, the Animal Welfare Program has become one of the largest and most respected animal welfare science centres globally and its research has led to improvements in the lives of animals in British Columbia and around the world.

10/07/2026

New research from the AWP!🎉

Whose voices are represented in research on dairy cattle welfare? Bianca Vandresen, Daniel Weary and Marina von Keyserlingk reviewed 134 publications investigating dairy farmers’ perspectives. Key findings included 1) 35% of publications did not report participants’ gender, 2) among studies reporting gender, women represented an average of 24% of participants, and 3) only 25 studies discussed gender-related topics, with none making gender a primary focus of analysis. These gaps risk providing an incomplete picture of dairy farmers’ animal welfare priorities. The authors recommend more inclusive recruitment, consistent gender reporting, and greater consideration of how gendered roles shape farmers’ experiences and perspectives.

Read the full paper here:
https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2026.1939082

10/02/2026

Congratulations to Prof. Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk, O.C., Ph.D. on receiving Animal Health Canada’s 2026 Farm Animal Welfare Leadership Award! 🎉

Dr. von Keyserlingk was nominated for this award by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. This award was presented at the Annual Animal Health Canada Forum and recognizes an individual who demonstrates a strong commitment to animal welfare, the development of innovative processes or products, and outreach.

Dr. von Keyserlingk’s work exemplifies these qualities through her research and dedication to improving farm animal welfare. She has demonstrated exceptional initiative in developing innovative approaches to animal care, while sharing her work with both the agricultural community and the public to promote awareness and inspire broader application.

The award also recognizes her commitment to promoting high standards of care for farmed animals and her collaborative efforts to build trust both within and beyond Canadian animal agriculture.

Dr. von Keyserlingk delivered the keynote presentation, sharing insights from her work in farm animal welfare with experts, leaders, and stakeholders from across Canada’s animal health and welfare system.

Congratulations, Dr. von Keyserlingk, on this well-deserved recognition!

Pictured with Dr. Nina von Keyserlingk are members of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA).

Front row (from left to right): Dr. Bettina Bobsien, Dr. Nina von Keyserlingk, Dr. Michelle Groleau.

Back row (from left to right): Dr. Ian Alexander, Mr. Joel Neuheimer, Dr. Henry Ceelen, Dr. Jim Fairles.

09/25/2026

On Friday, September 18th, the UBC Farm hosted its annual Fall Welcome to celebrate the start of the academic year with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS) community! AWP members managed booths for the UBC Dairy Centre and the LFS Graduate Student Council.

09/21/2026

🎉 New publication!

Artificial intelligence (Al) is increasingly promoted as a way to improve animal welfare but does it always result in better welfare? In our latest paper we discuss what the potentially rapid introduction of Al could mean for farming systems and, importantly, for the animals themselves.

Specifically we discuss five pathways through which Al could create or amplify animal welfare risks - and what we can do to mitigate them.

Read the full paper here 👇

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2026.112408

09/20/2026

New publication! 🎉🙌

Achieving change in animal care practices requires developing a shared vision, but people working with animals are rarely asked to develop this vision and consider how it might be achieved.

In a paper just published in the journal Laboratory Animal, Georgia Mason and Dan Weary imagine a 'rodentopia' - what a good life would look like for animals used in research, and how this might be achieved in the coming decades.

Georgia and Dan describe a future in which rats and mice are valued as intelligent, sociable companions - and in which scientific rigour, animal welfare, and human well-being are inseparable priorities. Laboratory research persists, but under radically improved conditions featuring naturalistic environments and voluntary animal participation.

In addition, "research clinics" offer a bold new model, using naturally sick or ageing companion rodents to generate clinically relevant data while delivering the animals the benefits of real veterinary care. In developing this intentionally idealistic vision, they aim to foster efforts to reimagine what animal-based science could, and should, become.

Read the full paper here! 👇

https://doi.org/10.1177/00236772261475086

09/18/2026

New publication!🎉

What drives public acceptance of emerging biotechnologies in animal agriculture?

A new study by AWP researchers used structural equation modeling to examine how trust in the institutions developing biotechnologies influences perceived technology benefits and risks, and thus technology acceptance. The research team examined two technologies, gene editing (GE) and antimicrobial peptides (AMP), with applications being developed for cows, pigs, and chickens.

Key findings:
- Trust in institutions had the largest total effect on acceptance
- Overall, technologies were viewed neutrally, and views were driven by technology type (GE vs. AMP), rather than the specific application
- Participants had higher levels of trust in institutions, and saw greater perceived benefits, lower perceived risks, and had higher acceptance for AMP compared to GE

Furthermore, added survey questions did not provide clear results as to whether participants considered technology impacts on animals, and in open-ended responses, participants described views that the technologies could improve or harm animal welfare, but also weighed implications for disease management, saw potential benefits for humans, and discussed competence, integrity, and other elements of public trust in science.

Read the full study here👇

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foohum.2026.101456

09/17/2026

This past August, AWP members presented at two International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE) meetings across the globe!

The 59th Congress of The International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE) took place in Greater Noida (a suburb of New Delhi), India, from August 10-14th at Gautam Buddha University. PhD Candidate Elizabeth Russell (pictured with Professor Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk, O.C.) and recent visiting scholar Asmi Aggarwal from Ashoka University presented at this conference.

On August 17th, the 2nd ISAE China Regional Meeting was hosted by Nanjing Agricultural University in Nanjing, China, and MSc student Su Xiaowen presented.
Congratulations to all of our presenters!

09/15/2026

Congratulations to the AWP students who presented at two major international conferences this summer: Science for Animal Welfare (SciFAW, previously UFAW) and the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ)!

The SciFAW Centennial Conference took place at the campus of University College London, in the United Kingdom, on June 23-25, 2026. Professor Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk O.C. gave a plenary talk and was awarded the UFAW Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Welfare Science.

Shortly after SciFAW, a few of the AWP members made their way to the 35th ISAZ Conference, which occurred in Paris, France, from July 1-3. MSc student Oceania Kreutzer was awarded the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Award.

Congratulations to all of our presenters!

08/23/2026

AWP members Isaac Qi and Sky Sheng recently travelled to Beijing to participate in a two-week program at China Agricultural University (CAU) on Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Animal Welfare.

Hosted by Professor Wu Zhonghong, who recently visited AWP as part of the UBC Animal Welfare Visiting Scholars Initiative, and Assistant Professor Shu Hang, the program provided opportunities for cultural exchange and discussion on how precision livestock technologies and artificial intelligence can support animal welfare within the Chinese context. Professor Lu Luo, who also visited AWP alongside Professor Wu, delivered the program’s opening lecture.

We are grateful to our colleagues at CAU for their generous welcome and look forward to welcoming Assistant Professor Shu Hang to AWP in January!

07/28/2026

🎉 Our paper is out in Technology in Society!

"Silencing controversial realities through prompt revision: The erasure of intensive livestock farming in text-to-image generative AI”, from Sky (Kehan) Sheng, Frank Tuyttens, and Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk.

For those of you who were at ACM FAccT 2025 in Greece, you have already heard from Sky talking non-stop about this work, specifically that the prompt revision process could erase controversial topics like intensive livestock farming. Prompt revision and the system prompt governing the process are a highly overlooked internal process in AI eval.

📄 Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103466

Note: this work was accepted and presented at ACM FAccT 2025. At that time, we opted to make public a non-archival version there; given that journal publication is the standard venue for dissemination in our field, this peer-reviewed publication represents the final version of our work.

Address

2357 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC
V6T1Z4

Telephone

+16048222794

Website

http://awp.landfood.ubc.ca/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when UBC Animal Welfare Program posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to UBC Animal Welfare Program:

Want your school to be the top-listed school/college in Vancouver?