Wood-Gush Memorial Lecture 2025
Dr. Meghan Barrett
“Horizons of Animal Welfare: Insects in Farming and Research”
Meghan Barrett is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Indiana University Indianapolis where she researches insect neuroscience, physiology, and the welfare of insects farmed as food and feed. She has published authoritative reviews on the welfare of crickets, black soldier flies, and yellow mealworms and currently researches stunning and slaughter, nutrition, and handling-associated stress. Barrett is also the founding Director of the Insect Welfare Research Society, an interdisciplinary academic society focused on evidence-based improvements to the welfare of understudied invertebrates wherever they are used or managed.
Winner of the ISAE Young Investigator Award 2024
Dr. Sarah Adcock
“Improving data sharing practices in applied ethology research”
Sarah Adcock is an Assistant Professor of Animal Welfare in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her PhD in Animal Behavior from the University of California-Davis, MSc in Behavioral Ecology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and BSc in Biology from McGill. Her research interests focus on advancing sustainable food systems through improvements in animal welfare. Much of her work focuses on using interdisciplinary approaches to quantify and mitigate the welfare and productivity impacts of painful procedures and diseases in farm animals, including sheep, chickens, and dairy cattle. She is also interested in applying animal behavior and welfare research to develop animal care standards for the emerging “insects as food and feed” sector and serves as Secretary for the Insect Welfare Research Society.
Joint session with UFAW
Dr. Leopoldo Stuardo
“Global perspectives in animal welfare”
Dr Leopoldo H. Stuardo Escobar has broad experience working at the national and international level dealing with sanitary negotiations related to trade and in developing international standards and national regulations on animal welfare. Leopoldo has developed these activities at the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) from the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture, at the Chilean Mission to the European Union in Brussels and at the Headquarters of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in Paris. Currently, Leopoldo is working at the Standards Department of WOAH, in charge of the animal welfare activities related to the WOAH Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Code. Leopoldo holds a DVM from the University of Chile and MSc at the Catholic University of Leuven (LLN).
Dr. Claudia Vinke
“Clinical ethology in companion animals”
Dr. Claudia Vinke is a behavioural biologist, working at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. She preferably works in interdisciplinary teams on topics concerning animal welfare, but is most interested in the development of mental disorders. Herewith she believes that human psychology and psychiatry can be helpful in understanding behavioural problems in animals, though always with a starting point out of the biology of the animal, the area of clinical ethology. Claudia works with companion animals, but she does teach on dairy cows’ behavioural biology as well. She works in animal shelters on topics of acute and chronic stress and stress physiology, in the areas of working dogs, in (exotic) animal trade systems, in zoos, animal transport, etc. As a scientist, she has both a lot of experience on paper and in the field. On a weekly basis, you can find Claudia in the Behavioural Clinic at Utrecht University.
Dr. Christian Nawroth
“Lessons learned – the past, present, and (potential) future of farm animal cognition research”
Chistian Nawroth’s research involves studying goats to better understand how they perceive and interact with their physical and social environments. His primary research interests lie in animal cognition, particularly in farm animals, human-animal interactions, and animal welfare.
Christian is also actively involved in initiatives aimed at increasing the accessibility and dissemination of scientific research, both within the academic community and to society at large, through Open Science practices and science communication efforts.