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Alistair’s Crichton Conversation “Ask the Animal about Welfare.”
Dr Dave Roberts (SAC) Crichton Conversation Coordinator and Professor Alistair Lawrence. (opens in new window)
SAC animal welfare expert Professor Alistair Lawrence gave the eighth, SAC sponsored, Crichton Conversation at Easterbrook Hall in Dumfries recently.
In a well received presentation, to an engaged audience, Alistair outlined the history of research into animal behaviour and welfare, highlighting some of the groundbreaking work SAC researchers are involved in.
He explained the reasoning behind an animal centred approach to research which involves seeking answers from the animal about what it likes and dislikes. One difficult question was whether an animal was having an “acceptable” life.
In the stimulating discussion following the presentation an interesting parallel was drawn between the “client-based” approach of welfare researchers and what medical researchers were doing as they seek the best approaches to patient care.

