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In this episode we sit down with Professor Cathy Dwyer of SRUC and Edinburgh University.
Prof Dwyer will be known already, to many of our listeners, as an advocate for animal welfare. There were so many take-aways from this episode that it's difficult to highlight a few main points, but here goes - sentience, current challenges in animal welfare, generating and applying evidence to animal welfare, education, and influencing government policy to name a few!
We also reflect on people, rather than animals, as I came away from our conversation thinking about how human behaviour impacts on animal welfare.
Whether you’re a student of animal welfare, someone working with animals or an animal keeper, this episode has something for everyone. We would love you to join the animal welfare conversation.
Further Information:
Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education
International work supporting animal welfare
Biography: Professor Cathy Dwyer, BSc, PhD
Cathy is Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) and has a joint appointment with the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (RDSVS), University of Edinburgh where she is the Director of the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE) since 2016. In 2019 she was also appointed by Scottish Government to Chair the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission which provides independent scientific advice on animal welfare to Ministers and parliamentary committees.
Cathy has research interests in parturition, mother-offspring interactions and behavioural development in ruminants; human-animal interactions and welfare in horses; welfare assessment in a number of species, and assessment of pain.
She teaches animal behaviour and welfare to undergraduate vet students, vet nurses and animal science students, and contributes to the University of Edinburgh MSc Programmes in animal behaviour and welfare on campus and online. Cathy sits on the scientific advisory committees for Dog’s Trust, the Horse Trust, British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Animal Partnership and University of Vienna Veterinary School.
She was the 2013 recipient of the BSAS/RSPCA Award for outstanding achievement in animal welfare and led the application that resulted in the RDSVS being awarded the first CEVA Animal Welfare Vet School Award in 2020.
Vet, Medical Educator, Company Director
Dr Mary Fraser BVMS MRes PhD CertVD MAcadMEd MIoD PGCHE FHEA FRSPH FRSB FRSM FRCVS
Mary has had a varied career, starting out in mixed practice, then focussing on veterinary dermatology, veterinary nursing, medical education, animal welfare, owner support and clinical decision making. She was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2017 for Meritorious Contributions to Practice and is a past Chair of the RCVS Fellowship Science Advisory Panel.
Working both as a clinician and academic, Mary has a PhD in immunological aspects of canine atopic dermatitis and the RCVS Certificate in Veterinary Dermatology, worked in referral practice, and also set up her own first opinion/referral small animal practice in rural Perthshire.
In between this, she had the opportunity to work in veterinary nursing at both FE and HE levels becoming a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Member of the Academy of Medical Educators, and alongside Simon Girling, setting up the Advanced Programme in Veterinary Nursing of Exotics a postgraduate training programme for veterinary nurses that has now been running for over 20 years and trained over 1000 vet nurses.
She is a accomplished researcher and author, with over 100 published articles, book chapters, books and papers. Areas of work include veterinary dermatology, medical education, preparing students for practice, the challenges of clinical decision making, providing better support in practice for clients with sight loss, and the application of evidence based medicine in practice.
During her ti…
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Professor
Cathy is Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) and has a joint appointment with the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (RDSVS), University of Edinburgh where she is the Director of the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE) since 2016. In 2019 she was also appointed by Scottish Government to Chair the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission which provides independent scientific advice on animal welfare to Ministers and parliamentary committees.
Cathy has research interests in parturition, mother-offspring interactions and behavioural development in ruminants; human-animal interactions and welfare in horses; welfare assessment in a number of species, and assessment of pain. She teaches animal behaviour and welfare to undergraduate vet students, vet nurses and animal science students, and contributes to the University of Edinburgh MSc Programmes in animal behaviour and welfare on campus and online.
Cathy sits on the scientific advisory committees for Dog’s Trust, the Horse Trust, British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Animal Partnership and University of Vienna Veterinary School. She was the 2013 recipient of the BSAS/RSPCA Award for outstanding achievement in animal welfare and led the application that resulted in the RDSVS being awarded the first CEVA Animal Welfare Vet School Award in 2020.