On Thursday 21st of May 2026 AFBI will host the 4th All-Ireland Animal Welfare Science Forum. This is an annual event that brings people together for whom animal welfare science is professionally relevant. To share ideas, forge collaborations and promote change to improve animals’ lives.
The programme for the day can now be found below. Anyone with an interest in animal welfare science (for example researchers, students, policy makers, NGO workers, veterinarians and industry) is very welcome to attend. Registration for attendance is open until the 14th of May.
9.30 | Opening – Elizabeth Magowan (AFBI) |
9.45 | Session 1: Behaviour, health and development in the farmyard |
Lateral bias as an indicator of welfare risk in the domestic pig - Grace Williams (QUB) | |
Changes in body dimensions of Irish sows over 20 years - Alan Foley (Teagasc) | |
Step into the Udder Zone – Identifying fallback piglets using zone-based behavioural scoring - Stijn Brouwers (Teagasc) | |
Effects of ageing on laying hen welfare during extended lay - Alex Rainey (AFBI/QUB) | |
From parlour to robot: What automated milking means for dairy cow welfare - Laura McAnally (AFBI) | |
10.50 | Coffee break |
11.15 | Session 2: Welfare at the human-animal interface |
Post-partum pet aversion - does it exist and if so, how does it affect companion animal welfare? - Grace Carroll (QUB) | |
Teaching Dog Welfare in Veterinary Nursing Education – Maintaining Welfare Standards Through Screening, Monitoring and Structured Use - Sarah Hampton (Ulster University) | |
Dog bites and hidden welfare consequences in Nepal - Rakesh Chand (UCD, University of Cambridge & Center for One Health Research and Promotion, Nepal) | |
Network moment | |
12.05 | Lunch, poster viewing & tour of AFBI's animal facilities |
13.50 | Session 3: A critical look at progress on improving animal welfare in practice |
The sow welfare paradox: legislation wins yet longevity losses - Laura Boyle (Teagasc) | |
Animal welfare impact in the UK and Ireland: Stakeholder perspectives - Francesca Johansen (Teagasc) | |
A New Approach to Animal Welfare: Dublin Zoo’s Animal Welfare Master Plan - Lucy Stratford (Dublin Zoo) | |
Stakeholder perspectives on farriery regulation and equine welfare in Northern Ireland: A mixed methods COM-B analysis - Esther Skelly-Smith (QUB) | |
15.00 | Coffee break |
15.25 | Session 4: Cattle welfare & cost effectiveness of animal welfare schemes |
Dietary management influences welfare related behavioural, physiological and rumen microbial responses in beef bulls - Paul Donnelly (QUB) | |
A genetic survey of Pestivirus A (BVDV 1) isolates circulating in Northern Ireland - Philip Best (AFBI) | |
The agreement between dairy farmers in Nepal on using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment to assess dairy cow emotion - Samiksha Sen (University of Cambridge & Center for One Health Research and Promotion, Nepal) | |
Sustainable agriculture or animal welfare – a zero-sum game? - Richard Mott (AFBI) | |
Optimising the cost-effectiveness ratio of a payment by results scheme for animal welfare - Taro Takahashi (AFBI) | |
16.30 | Closing |
Date and venue
The 4th All-Ireland Animal Welfare Science Forum will be held at AFBI Hillsborough, Large Park, Hillsborough, BT 26 6DR, Northern Ireland.
For those travelling by public transport, the closest bus stop is at Park Street, Hillsborough (code 003381), a 15–20-minute walk from the venue.
For those travelling by car, parking is available on site and free of charge.
Fee
There is no attendance fee for this event. Lunch and coffee/tea are sponsored by AFBI.
Registration
You can register for this event by emailing us at aiawsf@afbini.gov.uk.
When registering, please provide us with your name, affiliation and preferred email address for communication. Also, please notify us of any dietary requirements you may have.
Note that registration is required, and needs to be done before the 14th of May.
Abstract submission
Abstracts can be submitted until the 21st of April, by emailing them to: aiawsf@afbini.gov.uk. You will be notified of acceptance by the 1st of May.
Abstract guidelines
- Abstracts must present information that falls within the scope of the All-Ireland Animal Welfare Forum: scientific research on the welfare of any captive or wild species, whether their focus is on behaviour, health, physiology, social science or any other welfare-relevant discipline. If you are unsure if your intended abstracts falls within the scope, please contact us.
- We expect most abstracts will describe empirical studies. However, we are also open to abstracts introducing discussion sessions, describing improvements in research/teaching methodology, workshops, or wholly new ideas. If you are aiming for anything that isn’t a standard presentation, please state so clearly below the body of the abstract.
- The maximum word count is 400, excluding authors, affiliations and title.
- Abstracts are to be written as a single paragraph, without sub headers.
- Aims, methods, results and conclusions should be clearly described. Abstracts on empirical studies should contain data and describe the statistical methods used.
- The presenting author should be indicated by an *, and their email address needs to be stated.
- Where authors have different affiliations, numerical superscripts are to be used to identify which author is affiliated with which institute.
- Only the name of the institute, the department/division/group/school, and the city is required in the affiliation (no further address information).
- See example for formatting details:
How to optimize welfare in an ever-changing world?
W. Riter*1, C. O. Author2
1 University of Ireland, Department of Animal Affairs, Galway
2 Institute for Animal Improvement, Bovine Division, Armagh
* w.riter@UI.ie
Followed by the main body of the abstract, with a max word count of 400 words