Acknowledgements

With funding from The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) at the University of Stirling (ESRC grant reference ES/X004546/1)

Please cite this website and our resources as:

Gandia, K.M., Elliott, J. & Buchanan-Smith, H.M.  https://animalwelfareassessment.stir.ac.uk/ hosted by the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. 

  • We thank Dr Sharon Kessler, University of Stirling, for her contribution to the development of the research and securing the IAA funding.
  • We thank Dr Krista Bondy, University of Stirling, and co-applicant on the IAA grant, for her insightful social science perspective, and feedback on website content.
  • We thank IAA grant collaborators, David Field, CEO of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Vice President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria, as well as Dr Holly Farmer, Conservation Evidence Manager at the Wild Planet Trust, Chair of EAZA Animal Welfare Group, member of BIAZA Animal Welfare Working Group for their advice and ongoing support.
  • We thank the many people who piloted our tools, as students of the University of Stirling, and zoo colleagues. In particular we thank the vet and keeper teams at RZSS.
  • We thank the polar bear keepers/team leaders and curators at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Peak Wildlife Park, Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park, Zoo Brno, and RZSS Highland Wildlife Park for piloting our resources and thus helping in their development, and for sharing our vision of collaborative research among zoos to improve the welfare of animals.
  • We appreciated feedback from colleagues at Five Sisters Zoo, Fife Zoo, Calderglen and Blair Drummond Safari Park who highlighted their needs, and how to streamline the tools to make them efficient.
  • We thank Dr Jason Wark and Dr Katie Cronin of Lincoln Park Zoo where the ZooMonitor app was developed. In particular, Jason was generous with his time and expertise in hosting Kristine Gandia’s visit to Lincoln Park Zoo and advising on the development of key SWAT and BEEB elements, and Power BI.
  • We also thank everyone who attended our Animal Welfare Assessment Tools workshop that we hosted in May 2024 to gain feedback from a range of perspectives (academics, zoo curators, and zoo care staff).
  • We thank Nadeem Naber for assistance with the development of ethograms.
  • We thank Paul Rose for his generosity in allowing us to use videos from his YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/@paulrose1) to help with the reliability testing for the BEEB. 
  • We thank Dr Sarah Wettstadt for her assistance in creating the website and for all her constructive feedback on the content.
  • We thank Dr Annika Bremhorst for organising the Animal Welfare Research Network “Effective Science Communication in Animal Welfare Research” workshop (delivered by Dr Sarah Wettstadt) and workshop participants for feedback on some website content.