News

Animal Welfare Science Centre joins world-wide animal welfare research collaboration

Media Release, Tuesday 2 June 2009

The Animal Welfare Science Centre (AWSC), jointly based at the University of Melbourne, has been internationally recognised for its leading research and education programs.

The annual meeting of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) gave formal approval to include the AWSC and four other Australian and New Zealand partners as part of the international ‘OIE Collaborating Centre for Animal Welfare Science and Bioethical Analysis’.

AWSC Director, Professor Paul Hemsworth said that the international collaboration would combine the skills and expertise of each centre to formalise their existing collaboration and encourage cross-disciplinary research.

The primary role of the collaborating centre is to provide expert scientific, bioethical and educational advice for the OIE, scientific and technical training, the organisation of appropriate meetings and the coordination of scientific and technical studies.

“Membership to the international collaboration would provide a greater opportunity to participate in policy deliberations that affect international animal welfare standards. The AWSC will also provide animal welfare training and education at an international level.”

“As society continues to ask questions about appropriate welfare standards for animals in a range of farming, domestic, recreational and research uses, there is an increasing role for science,” said Professor Hemsworth, based at the School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne.

“Science can provide the factual basis of the impact of these uses on the animals.”

The Animal Welfare Science Centre comprises the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) the University of Melbourne, Monash University and The Ohio State University. (USA).

The Centre was established to focus and coordinate research and academic resources of these collaborating organisations, providing the animal industries, animal users, farming communities, Government and the academic and general community with an internationally competitive research, training and teaching resource in animal welfare science.

Other partners in the international OIE collaboration include CSIRO’s Division of Livestock Industries, the Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics at the University of Queensland, the Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre at New Zealand’s Massey University and the AgResearch Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Centre, also in New Zealand.