Development, integration and dissemination of animal-based welfare indicators, including pain, in commercially important husbandry species, with special emphasis on small ruminants, equidae and turkeys. KBBE.2010.1.3-03: 7th Framework Programme (# 266213).
AWIN is an exciting new four-year, animal welfare research programme involving eleven institutions from seven countries across Europe, USA and Brazil, funded by EU FP7. The programme, involving projects with sheep, goats, horses, donkey and turkeys aims to develop easy to use and practical indicators of animal welfare that are supported by scientific evidence. The programme is now looking to recruit eight high calibre PhD students to join projects in Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway and the Czech Republic, and to be part of this dynamic research environment. A key aim of this international, multi-centre project is to establish a global research and teaching hub or school. This will be a “virtual environment” resource, bringing together existing knowledge and practice for students, teachers, policy makers, producers and consumers, to raise animal welfare awareness across the globe. Further information about the project can be found at our website: www.animal-welfare-indicators.net
The projects are:
o Developing welfare indicator protocols for sheep (based in Edinburgh, Scotland) supervised by Dr Cathy Dwyer (SAC: cathy.dwyer@sac.ac.uk)
o Welfare assessment in dairy sheep and turkeys; Optimization of indicators and protocols development (based in Vitoria, Spain) – supervised by Prof. Inma Estevez (NEIKER-Tecnalia: iestevez@neiker.net) in collaboration with Dr. Valentina Ferrante (University of Milan: valentina.ferrante@unmi.it).
o Developing welfare indicator protocols for goats (based in Lisbon, Portugal) supervised by Dr. George Stilwell (Lisbon Veterinary Faculty, University of Lisbon: stilwell@fmv.utl.pt)
o Developing welfare indicator protocols for equines (based in Milan, Italy) supervised by Dr Michaela Minero (michaela.minero@unimi.it) and Dr. Elisabetta Canali (University of Milan: elisabetta.canali@unimi.it ).
o Assessing attitudes towards pain in animals (based in Edinburgh, Scotland) supervised by Prof. Adroaldo Zanella (adroaldo.zanella@sac.ac.uk ) and Dr. Kenny Rutherford (kenny.rutherford@sac.ac.uk) at SAC.