The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)

The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) is an internationally recognised scientific and educational animal welfare charity. The charity is concerned with promoting high standards of welfare for farm, companion, laboratory and captive wild animals, and for those animals with which we interact in the wild.

The objects of the Federation are:

• To prevent cruelty and promote humane behaviour towards all animals whether domestic or wild, in the United Kingdom or abroad, so as to reduce or eliminate pain, fear, suffering, distress or lasting harm inflicted upon them by humans, and in pursuance of this aim:
• To enlist the energies of members of universities, professional men and women and all others who work with, are responsible for, or care about animals, and
• To encourage and promote, through the process of education, good management, and husbandry practices whereby the needs of animals are properly understood and met, and to contribute to the store of scientific knowledge by funding and engaging in animal welfare research and by publishing the results.

The charity currently has the following objectives:

• Objective 1: to encourage and support high quality research likely to lead to substantial advances in animal welfare and support development of the capacity to carry out such research. UFAW’s core objective is to promote “Science in the Service of Animal Welfare” through the support of high-quality, impactful animal welfare research and through the development of capacity to undertake such research (for example, by developing scientific talent and expertise).
• Objective 2: to encourage the dissemination of Evidence-Based Animal Welfare Knowledge. A key aim of UFAW’s strategy is to promote evidence-based animal welfare. Its plan includes elements aimed at disseminating animal welfare science to a wider audience including the interested general public through webinars and scientific meetings