BERG March 2018

berg@lists.stir.ac.uk

4 participants
12 discussions

Stirling Conference on Psychology, April 4th 2018

by Paxton Culpepper

Dear all, In case you didn't know, the final year psychology students will be presenting posters, giving oral presentations, and giving talks about their chosen topics and placement experiences. This will take place throughout the day (April 4th) and in multiple locations in Cottrell. See the attached poster for more specific details. Please try to come out and support our final year undergraduates if you can - they've worked very hard to be where they are! Best, Paxton

7 years

FW: Animal Domestication lecture

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Please find attached details of a public lecture on Animal Domestication – that may be of interest to some. Edinburgh 5th April, 5.30pm Pathways to Animal Domestication: A Continuing Journey Melinda A. Zeder Lecture Abstract Animal domestication represents a milestone in the history of humans, and of the planet we inhabit. Exploring the long history of the diverse and continuing pathways that humans and animal traveled into domestication, learning how and when they first embarked on these journeys, tracing the twists and turns they took along the way is vital to understanding where we come from, how we arrived where we are today, and where these pathways will lead us into the future. This lecture looks at the universal features of animal domestication and its impact on animal domesticates. It brings together archaeology, genetics, and animal sciences to trace the pathways that animals and their human partners have followed and continue to follow into domestication. It explores some of the issues that must be confronted – ethical, ecological, social – as we continue to push the frontiers of animal domestication and reshape the lives of all animals living within an increasingly pervasive human sphere. https://www.ed.ac.uk/arts-humanities-soc-sci/news-events/lectures/munro-lec…

7 years

Practice run of EISF event at BERG meeting tonight

by Christine Caldwell

Hi all, I just wanted to send a quick reminder about the early start for tonight's meeting (5pm). My lab group are doing a practice run of a session that we will be running next week at Edinburgh Science Festival, which has been given a 90 minute slot. For tonight, I'll be trimming down the introduction/theoretical background, so I'm hoping to keep it to more like an hour, but that's still a bit longer than usual obviously, and hence the early start. However, if anyone is able to stick around a bit longer for the usual drinks, nibbles and chat afterwards then we'll be really grateful to hear any feedback you have that might help us improve it before the real thing. Please do come along and be our guinea pigs! We would really appreciate it. We did a first run-through on Monday with some MSc students and they seemed to really enjoy it, so hopefully it will be fun for you as well. We'll be in the Psychology common room (3A94) as usual, starting at 5pm. Drinks and nibbles will be provided! Thanks, and hope to see you later. Christine.

7 years

FW: Registration and call for abstracts: Animal Welfare Across Borders - Hong Kong, 25-26th October 2018

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

As UFAW kindly fund our BERG meetings, I agree to share details of their meetings with you - but I fear Hong Kong may be a bit far for most of us..... From: Stephen Wickens <wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk> Sent: 27 March 2018 13:16 To: Hannah Buchanan-Smith <h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: Registration and call for abstracts: Animal Welfare Across Borders - Hong Kong, 25-26th October 2018 Dear Hannah, Grateful if you share the folllowing update with your colleagues: ANIMAL WELFARE ACROSS BORDERS: A meeting to bridge cultural gaps to advance animal welfare worldwide. Hong Kong, 25 and 26 October 2018 Registration and abstract submissions now open for this meeting. This two-day meeting endeavours to increase our knowledge of the different ways animal welfare is understood and addressed around the world. The aim is to develop ideas for local animal welfare initiatives, supported by local science projects, in order to progress animal welfare at a global level, while taking cultural and environmental differences and constraints into consideration. In addition, the meeting will attempt to highlight lessons that could be learned by developing and developed countries alike. Socioeconomics, climate, politics, religious and cultural practices, history, access to technology and availability of veterinary expertise are all factors that affect how people view animals and are reflected in regional differences in how animals are treated. As a result, attitudes of consumers, animal guardians, farmers and politicians to animal welfare are often different between regions. These differences will need to be addressed to efficiently promote animal welfare across the globe. In addition, implications for people and the environment will have to be considered. Indeed, differences in attitude towards animal welfare raise the question whether, instead of implementing or adapting standards developed for production systems of developed nations, animal welfare could be improved more efficiently by putting it into a local context. Climate and climate change, resource availability, and social and cultural factors can create specific local opportunities and constraints for improving animal welfare. This meeting will feature the following keynote speakers: * Dr Judy MacArthur Clark * Dr Birte Nilsen * Dr Johnson Chiang For details on registration and submission of abstracts please visit: http://www.cityu.edu.hk/cvmls/ufaw2018 Many thanks. Stephen Dr Stephen Wickens Universities Federation for Animal Welfare The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8AN, UK Email: wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk> Direct Tel: +44(0)1276 500880; Office: +44(0)1582 831818 (tel), 831414 (fax) www.ufaw.org.uk Facebook: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare - UFAW<http://www.facebook.com/ufaw.org.uk> ; Twitter: @UFAW_1926<https://twitter.com/ufaw_1926> The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) is an UK charity that works to develop and promote improvements in the welfare of all animals through scientific and educational activity worldwide. Registered Charity No 207996 (Registered in England) and Company Limited by Guarantee No 579991 Science in the service of animal welfare

7 years

BERG - next week (4th April) with dinner invitation

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Dear BERGers This week we have Christine and her team doing a practice run of a session that they will run at the Edinburgh International Science Festival (see Paxton's message). Next week - Wednesday 4th April - we have Joana Coleoptera (see https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/37177) giving a presentation entitled Where to go? Impact of global environmental changes on African apes (Abstract below) We shall be going to the Meadowpark (http://www.themeadowparkstirling.co.uk/) for supper after the seminar. Please let Hannah know by Monday 2nd April if you would like to join us. h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> All welcome! Feel free to share with colleagues who might be interested. Where to go? Impact of global environmental changes on African apes Recent global food crises have greatly contributed towards the intensification and major expansion of tropical agriculture. Sub-Saharan Africa is suffering from widespread food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, and is the region expected to experience the greatest human population growth in coming decades. Moreover, it is a region with a considerable proportion of land potentially suitable for agriculture. Globally, Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change (CC). Here, future droughts and other extreme weather events are likely to prompt the relocation of agricultural areas into more humid areas, which are rich in biodiversity, including African ape populations (AAPs). A key question is how to mitigate the effects of future CC and land-use/cover changes (LULCC) on AAPs by maintaining connectivity across landscapes, whilst guaranteeing food security and improving livelihoods of local populations. This project will a) make a fundamental contribution to understanding the effects of future CC on AAPs, b) studies on AAPs, carbon stocks and food security employing an integrative, interdisciplinary approach so far are lacking, and c) provide compelling arguments for the relevance of aligning biodiversity conservation with sustainable intensification of agriculture and CC that can benefit biodiversity and rural populations. Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Room 3A79, Cottrell Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html Recently launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/ http://www.refiningdogcare.com/images/RDC%20Flyer.pdf

7 years

BERG talk this week (Wed March 28th)

by Paxton Culpepper

Dear BERG people, This week Christine Caldwell and her research team will be doing a practice run of a session that they will run at the Edinburgh International Science Festival next week, and they would really appreciate input from as many of you as possible. The event is titled "The Culture Club" and audience members will be introduced to research methods that can be used to investigate cultural transmission in humans and other animals under laboratory conditions. The event will be a bit longer than our usual BERG presentations so we will start early at 5pm. Come along for some interactive fun! EISF social media links: F: /EdinburghScienceFestival T: @EdSciFest

7 years

Reminder: Early start today / 5:15pm

by Paxton Culpepper

Dear BERGers, This is just a message to remind you all that today we will be starting the meeting at 5:15pm rather than 5:30pm. We are making room for two speakers - so double the fun! Best, Paxton ______________________________ Paxton D. Culpepper, BSc, MSc PhD Candidate | Psychology Division of Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, UK Office: 3B134 Cottrell Building Phone: +44 (0) 1786 466852 Fax: +44 (0) 1786 467641 Email: p.d.culpepper(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:p.d.culpepper@stir.ac.uk>

7 years

FW: Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare (2 posts) - Queen's University Belfast

by Hannah Buchanan-Smith

Please find attached information about two posts that may interest somebody! From: Stephen Wickens [mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk] Sent: 19 March 2018 14:16 To: Hannah Buchanan-Smith <h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare (2 posts) - Queen's University Belfast Dear Hannah, Please find below details of two posts that may be of interest to your colleagues. If you have any queries about these please contact Dr Wells directly. Stephen Dr Stephen Wickens Universities Federation for Animal Welfare The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8AN, UK Email: wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk> Direct Tel: +44(0)1276 500880; Office: +44(0)1582 831818 (tel), 831414 (fax) MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "c:" claiming to be www.ufaw.org.uk<file:///C:/Users/Steve/AppData/Local/Temp/~ed_sb_3/www.ufaw.org.uk> ---------------------------------------- Book now: Recent advances in animal welfare science VI. UFAW Animal Welfare Conference, Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 28th June 2018. Further details can be found here www.ufaw.org.uk/recentadvances2018<http://www.ufaw.org.uk/recentadvances2018> Save the date: Animal Welfare across Borders. A UFAW, City University of Hong Kong and New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries conference. Hong Kong, 25-26th October 2018. Sign up for alerts by emailing: animalwelfare(a)mpi.govt.nz<mailto:animalwelfare@mpi.govt.nz%0d> ----------- Dear all, The School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, is currently recruiting for 2 lectureship posts in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. The successful candidate will be expected to undertake research in the area of animal welfare and behaviour in line with the School's research strategy, to teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and to contribute to School administration/outreach activities. Individuals should also have an interest in undertaking consultancy work on pet behaviour therapy. Further details on the posts, and information on how to apply, can be found at the following link: https://hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VAC… Many thanks, Dr Deborah L. Wells Reader School of Psychology Queen's University Belfast Belfast BT7 1NN N.Ireland, UK Tel: 028 9097 4386 Email: d.wells(a)qub.ac.uk<mailto:d.wells@qub.ac.uk>

7 years

BERG talk / March 21st

by Paxton Culpepper

Dear BERG peeps, This week BERG will be hosting two speakers. PhD Candidate Paxton Culpepper will be giving a talk on his research, but we are also hosting a briefly visiting PhD student, Zsófia Csajbók, from University of Charles ,Prague, who wanted a chance to experience the friendly BERG atmosphere while she was in town. We will hear first from Zsófia. She will be discussing a piece of research her and her colleagues have been conducting, entitled: A higher 'GPA' or at least a passing grade in all 'subjects'? Passing the exam as a potential mate Brief blurb: A potential mate can be assessed along several factors (e.g., warmth, attractiveness, status, intelligence). How do these evaluations determine the overall desirability of a potential partner? Using a school analogy, one could devise at least two strategies: (1) taking some overall evaluation based on the distinct 'grades' (e.g., 'GPA'), or (2) requiring the candidate to achieve at least a 'passing grade' in all 'subjects'. In other words, which potential mates do people like better: those with a higher overall value but scoring low in one dimension, or candidates with mostly mediocre (but never low) scores? We were looking for the answers conducting an experiment using manipulated vignettes. (Rehearsal for the EHBEA Conference.) After Zsófia's talk, Paxton will be discussing his latest study, entitled: New Religions: Pathogen threat and cultural divergence Abstract: There is wide variation between cultures and their underlying belief systems, e.g. their religion. Evidence suggests that religion may function to promote prosocial cooperation among unrelated individuals but this alone cannot explain these variations. Cultures and their associated religions are based on and influenced by the society's values, which are reflected in its social rules. However, pathogen stress may impact values and affect cultural and religious trajectory by influencing the extent to which assortative social or prosocial rules are favoured. We tested this via the thought experiment: 'what if humans could start a new society founded on a newly developed set of basic social rules - on what rules would you build this new society?' Forty participants were asked to build a rule system they think would be most supported by potential citizens of the society. First, they rated either a set of pathogen-salient (PS) or pathogen-free (PF) images and then selected and ranked in importance, 15 rules from a list of 60 social rules (20 prosocial, assortative social, and pathogen-management). Analysis revealed that PS-viewers favoured (proportion and weighting) assortative social rules compared with the PF-viewers, who favoured prosocial rules. Selection of pathogen-management rules showed no group difference but were favoured less than prosocial rules and more than assortative social rules by PF-viewers. This may help explain how prolonged pathogen stress can increase in-group assortative sociality and lead to divergence and variation of cultures and their belief systems. Since we have two speakers this week, we will be starting the meeting at 5:15pm (apologies if this isn't convenient for some of you). Drinks and munchies provided! Hope to see everyone there! Paxton ______________________________ Paxton D. Culpepper, BSc, MSc PhD Candidate | Psychology Division of Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, UK Office: 3B134 Cottrell Building Phone: +44 (0) 1786 466852 Fax: +44 (0) 1786 467641 Email: p.d.culpepper(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:p.d.culpepper@stir.ac.uk>

7 years

BERG Talk Wednesday, March 14th

by Paxton Culpepper

Hello BERG people, This Wednesday (March 14th) we have PhD Candidate - Juliet Dunstone, giving a talk on her interesting research, entitled: How do I know, that you know, that you know? Using dual-tasks to investigate metacognitive learning strategies for cumulative cultural evolution. Abstract Cumulative cultural evolution is an apparently human unique ability to change and improve the behaviours or artefacts we use, which leads us to have artefacts and societies that no human could have invented within their lifetime. One current theory about why this ability is unique to humans is that humans are able to use metacognition (knowledge about one's own knowledge) to make effective strategic decisions about what information to use and where to get this information from. However, there is little to no empirical evidence to test this theory. This is partly due to methodological difficulties in testing for metacognition in lab conditions. In this talk I will explain how I am using dual-task methods to try to overcome this methodological issue, and how I chose the particular methods that I am using in current and future testing. We hope to see you all there at 5:30pm sharp. As usual, drinks and munchies provided. Best, Paxton ______________________________ Paxton D. Culpepper, BSc, MSc PhD Candidate | Psychology Division of Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, UK Office: 3B134 Cottrell Building Phone: +44 (0) 1786 466852 Fax: +44 (0) 1786 467641 Email: p.d.culpepper(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:p.d.culpepper@stir.ac.uk>

7 years

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BERG March 2018