Teagasc and University College Cork (UCC) have partnered to host the eighth International Conference on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level (WAFL).

The first virtual edition of the conference is taking place this week with over 350 delegates from 32 countries joining the online event.

The conference was opened today (Monday, August 16). This year’s topic is ‘Animal welfare science: Rising to the challenge of a changing world’. The event runs until this Thursday (August 19).

The event is the largest international conference devoted mainly to farm animal welfare science and usually runs on a three-year interval.

In her opening address, Prof. Sarah Culloty, head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science at UCC, said: “It is essential that the welfare and management of livestock and other animals is based on sound scientific research and best practice”.

Over 210 scientific papers will be presented, including five plenary and two keynote lectures, 88 oral presentation, five workshop sessions and 115 poster presentations.

This year’s event will include parallel sessions due to the growth of the conference in order to accommodate more presentations.

Several sessions were scheduled to enable delegates from most parts of the world to join at least one live session in their own time zone, which organisers say is a “true reflection of the international nature of the conference”.

Dr. Keelin O’Driscoll from Teagasc, who chairs the WAFL 2021 organising committee, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be the eighth hosts of WAFL, which is the first international animal welfare conference to be held in Ireland.

“Animal welfare is increasingly recognised as an essential component of sustainability, demonstrated by the fact that this is the largest WAFL to date. We hope that the conference programme will inspire and enthuse all our delegates from home and abroad,” she added.