For the first time since the start of the COVID crisis, UFAW’s annual conference will be held in person allowing attendees the opportunity to network with their colleagues face to face, and to socialise.

The conference will include submitted talks and poster presentations, alongside 4 keynote presentations:

• Professor Melissa Bateson (Newcastle University, UK) Use and misuse of measures of welfare
• Professor Bas Rodenburg (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Meeting the demands of a growing human population, while also achieving good welfare
• Professor Hanno Würbel (University of Bern, Switzerland) How to improve the quality of animal welfare science
• Professor Cathy Dwyer (University of Edinburgh, UK & Chair, Scottish Animal Welfare Commission) The role of evidence in policy making

The conference programme also includes other talks and posters. Some of these other talks include the following:

• Alicia Bartolomé et al (University of Valencia, Spain) Use of environmental enrichment for reptiles in zoos across Europe
• Matthew J Craven et al (Newcastle University, UK) Does complexity of aviary design affect hippocampal plasticity in laying hens?
• Alistair B Lawrence et al (Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and University of Edinburgh, UK) Brain health: A new frontier for animal behaviour and welfare
• Giovanna Massei and Stephanie Boyles Griffin (University of York, UK; Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control and The Humane Society of the United States, USA) Fertility control to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and promote coexistence
• Liat Morgan et al (Tel Aviv University, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Kimron Veterinary Institute and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Newcastle University, UK) Metabolomics as a promising new approach in animal welfare science: Characterising the metabolomic fingerprint of exposure to acute stress in a pig saliva model
• Vikki Neville et al (University of Bristol, UK) How can we improve laboratory rat welfare? A systematic review of refinements to laboratory rat housing and husbandry
• Rowena MA Packer et al (The Royal Veterinary College, UK) Dogs in demand: How a puppy boom is causing a welfare bust
• Stephen R Ross et al (Lincoln Park Zoo, USA) The potential and pitfalls of using behavioural diversity (H-Index) as a reliable animal welfare indicator
• Remco S Schrijver et al (Netherlands Food and Product Safety Authority (NVWA), The Netherlands) Animal welfare risk assessment of dairy cattle transported to slaughterhouses
• Mechthild Wiegard et al (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) Training of animals as an applied tool of stress reduction in pigs and therefore implemented refinement

In addition, the conference will feature a workshop and a debate forum.

The workshop, led by Professor Melissa Bateson (University of Newcastle, UK), will be on how to improve study design in animal welfare research.

The forum will be an open debate to discuss the pros, the cons, and the challenges associated with animal welfare labelling of food products. It will feature talks from Professor Siobhan Mullan (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Professor Frank Tuyttens (IVLO and Ghent University, Belgium).

These will run concurrently on the afternoon of the 29th.

Registration
We know from talking to you that many people have been missing the face-to-face element of meetings and that there is a real appetite for a ‘return to normal’. UFAW will be following best practice and the latest COVID guidance from the Scottish Government and that of the venue. Places will be limited and we would not want you to miss out, so please register early to ensure your place (tell your friends and colleagues too - you would not want them to miss out on meeting up with you!). More details on registration can be found here. Registration for the conference opens on 1st February 2022.

For those who cannot travel to Edinburgh, talks will also be streamed live on-line, but the workshops will not. Only people who attend the meeting in person will be able to participate in and enjoy these.

There will be a number of subsidised student places at the conference that will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. To claim one of these places, please contact Stephen Wickens -events@ufaw.org.uk in the first instance with proof of student status (eg Student ID card or similar)

Key conference dates:

• Deadline for workshop proposals – 27th November 2021
• Deadline for submission of abstracts – 14th January 2022
• Registration opens – 1st February 2022
• Notification of abstract acceptance – by 24th February 2022
• End of Early Registration – 31st March 2022
• Deadline for receipt of amendments to accepted abstracts – 17th May 2022
• Start of conference - 28th June 2022

Contact Details:
Dr Stephen Wickens, UFAW, The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, AL4 8AN, UK.

Tel: +44 (0) 1582 831818; Fax: +44 (0) 1582 831414; Website: www.ufaw.org.uk; Email: events@ufaw.org.uk