Dear BERGers and SHAIRers,

 

Today we don’t have a seminar, but next week we have a special guest lecture to look forward to…

On Wednesday 15 November 4-5pm we will be joined by Dr Alexander Weiss, whose research has made a great contribution to advancing our understanding of animal welfare and animal personality, especially in primates. Alex is a longstanding member of the Scottish Primate Research Group alongside many of us at Stirling.

 

University of Stirling’s 2023 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Guest Lecture

Alexander Weiss, University of Edinburgh

Making (Vegan?) Sausages: Lessons Learned from Editing a Book on Primate Welfare and Well-Being

 

Abstract: Over an eight-year period I worked with Lauren Robinson—then my Ph.D. student—to edit the edited volume “Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice”, which was published recently by Springer. The book grew out of my interest in well-being, both in animals and in humans, and in Lauren’s interest in primate welfare, and in a belief in freedom of expression and the value of open debate. The project cut deeply into both a visiting professorship I held at Kyoto University and into a sabbatical in Tucson, Arizona. Based on my previous experiences editing books, I did not intend or expect it to take so long. I also did not expect to learn as much as I did about primate welfare. I also learned a lot of lessons about editing an academic book, which I did not learn with previous volumes, which took less time. In my talk, after a brief overview of my own interest in the area, I will cover what I learned over those eight years and what, should I edit another volume, I would do differently. I will also take the time to say “Thank you and goodbye.” to old friends.

 

Please join us for the lecture in the Psychology Common Room (Cottrell,  C3A94) and hybrid (link to follow next week).

We are grateful to UFAW for kindly sponsoring this lecture!

 

All are welcome to join us for dinner along with Alex afterwards! Sadly for us, Alex will soon be moving away from Scotland, so this is an opportunity not to be missed. Please email (clare.andrews@stir.ac.uk, by Weds 15 Nov morning) if you would like to come along.

 

The upcoming BERG programme is here.

 

Looking forward to seeing you next Wednesday!

 

Clare