Keynote Speakers

Dr Beth Ventura
(University of Lincoln, UK)

Title: Animal welfare: The elephant in the room is us

Dr Beth Ventura is a Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at the University of Lincoln, UK. Originally from the United States, Beth worked primarily in Canada and the US before relocating to England in 2022. Her research interests
encompass both the animal and human side of animal welfare, and she has worked with farmed animals, horses, and captive wild animals investigating topics including environmental enrichment, pain, and more recently, cognition. The core of her research program, however, addresses the human-level factors that influence animal welfare. Beth sits on the Ethics Committee of the International Society for Applied Ethology, is a member of the American Dairy Science Association, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science. Beth also co-founded and facilitates the Animal Welfare Education Community of Practice, a grassroots community for those interested in teaching applied ethology and welfare, and which now serves over 100 members based in 60+ institutions around the world. Those interested in joining her are invited to email her at bventura@lincoln.ac.uk

Professor Lars Chittka
(Queen Mary, University of London, UK)

Title: Bee sentience and its welfare implications

Lars Chittka is the author of the book The Mind of a Bee and a Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary College of the University of London. He is also the founder of the Research Centre for Psychology at Queen Mary. Lars is known for his work on the evolution of sensory systems and intelligence using insect-flower interactions as a model system. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of animal cognition and its impact on evolutionary fitness studying bumblebees and honeybees