Animal welfare in veterinary education at NMBU
Animal welfare and applied ethology are central to veterinary education at NMBU. Professor Andrew M. Janczak is the course coordinator for VET353 Animal Welfare, the mandatory course for all veterinary students.
Animal welfare is a core subject in veterinary education
Animal welfare is a core subject in the veterinary program at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, NMBU. This subject is primarily taught through VET353 Animal Welfare, the mandatory course dedicated to this field. The course provides all veterinary students with a common, research-based foundation for assessing animal welfare, behavior, and health. This knowledge is crucial for providing comprehensive patient care, as veterinarians have a professional and ethical responsibility to prevent suffering and identify welfare problems in animals as early as possible. In addition, the subject gives students the necessary tools to handle complex clinical dilemmas, such as difficult decisions regarding euthanasia or situations where the animal's medical needs are in direct conflict with the owner's wishes or finances. This academic foundation also enables future veterinarians to take a confident and fact-based role in the public debate on animal welfare.
Theoretical foundation and ethical reflection in the course
VET353 Animal Welfare is a mandatory 9-ECTS course. The course covers how animal welfare can be assessed scientifically, the relationship between behavior, environment, and welfare, welfare indicators across species, as well as Norwegian animal welfare regulation. To assess animal welfare systematically, students delve into three main approaches: the animal's biological functioning, the extent to which the animal can perform natural behaviors, and its subjective experience of positive and negative emotions. Through applied ethology, future veterinarians learn to observe natural behavior, recognize indicators of stress and anxiety, and adapt the environment to prevent abnormal behavior. The course also incorporates fundamental ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and the recognition of the intrinsic value of animals, to provide students with a framework for ethical reflection and action.
Academic progression and clinical relevance
The teaching has a clear progression throughout the study program. In the first semesters, a solid theoretical foundation is built in ethics, physiology, behavioral genetics, and theories of emotion, motivation, and learning.
Gradually, the focus shifts toward species-specific behavior and welfare in pigs, farmed fish, poultry, small ruminants, and dogs, among others. Later in the course, the teaching is directed specifically at the veterinarian's everyday professional life through practical work with welfare protocols at the herd level and in-depth discussions of real clinical dilemmas.
This structure serves as a direct preparation for the students' final years of study. In the last semesters, students are expected to actively apply this competence during their clinical rotations, in external veterinary practice, and in meat inspection work. This close connection to the clinic ensures that students naturally integrate systematic welfare assessments into their future professional practice. At the same time, the course forms a central part of the academic foundation students build upon when they later in their studies conduct systematic knowledge summaries related to animal health and welfare.
Research-based teaching
The teaching is rooted in ongoing research. Professor Janczak leads the Computational Ethology and Precision Animal Welfare Research Group, which combines classical ethology and welfare science with behavioral testing, computer vision, and machine learning. In this research, the group collaborates closely with the Section for Ethology and Animal Welfare at the Faculty of Biosciences (BIOVIT). This collaboration ensures that up-to-date research is integrated directly into the veterinary teaching in animal welfare. The course particularly benefits from rapidly growing research fields such as cognitive ethology, which investigates how animals learn, remember, and make decisions. This insight is applied to develop new and improved methods for reducing fear and handling animals in practice. Modern methods for studying animal behavior using advanced technology, sensors, and automated behavior recognition also constitute an essential part of this knowledge base.
Coordination across the study program
Animal welfare is part of a broader academic framework in veterinary education. As the course coordinator for VET353 at the Section of Animal Welfare, Epidemiology and Population Medicine, Professor Janczak coordinates the teaching in animal welfare, and, in collaboration with colleagues, ensures that the content is linked to related teaching in other courses. This coordination ensures that students are offered a comprehensive and cohesive academic track. Because the field of ethology is fundamentally interdisciplinary and builds on biology, psychology, and ecology, a natural and strong bridge is created to related courses.
Core Animal Welfare Teaching Team
The academic content of the animal welfare teaching is developed by a team of key contributors. Together, they define the syllabus, further develop the course, and link the teaching in VET353 to related teaching in other courses at the faculty. The academic breadth of these contributors spans from specific knowledge about learning mechanisms to an in-depth understanding of Norwegian animal welfare legislation and the veterinarian's role in practice.
Alphabetical overview of the core team
Contributors to Animal Welfare Teaching
The teaching in animal welfare is based on extensive collaboration. Nearly 30 people contribute to the teaching within the subject area, including lecturers, clinical supervisors, and practical professional staff, both at NMBU and externally. The size of this team reflects the coordination responsibility and ensures that students receive instruction from a diverse and up-to-date academic environment. This ensures that key topics, such as animals' advanced cognitive abilities, the effects of domestication, and physiological stress mechanisms, are conveyed by subject experts.
Alphabetical overview of contributors
Alexander Figenschou: Basic and applied perspectives on the welfare of fish.
Amin Sayyari: Supervision and evaluation of group work.
Andrew M. Janczak: Introduction to ethics and animal welfare, behavioral genetics, evolution, domestication, physiology, motivation, emotions, learning, cognition, and the welfare of pigs and poultry.
Bente Wabakken Hognestad: Chronic pain in sports and companion animals, as well as pain management.
Bjørn Wormstrand: Ethical issues and dilemmas in equine practice.
Céline N. Løstegård (Seniorfagrådgiver, Dyrevernalliansen): Welfare of farmed fish.
Conor Barry: Behavior and welfare in cattle, and the practical use of welfare protocols for cattle.
David Persson: Basic and applied perspectives on fish welfare, including assessing the welfare of farmed fish.
Erik Granquist: Ethical dilemmas in veterinary practice, including dealing with severe illness in farmers and the psychological impact of daily professional dilemmas.
Esben Østergaard Eriksen: Ethics and animal welfare.
Frode Lingaas: Behavioral genetics, evolution, domestication, and specific health, behavior, and welfare challenges in dogs.
Hege Kippenes Skogmo: Ethical considerations surrounding the breeding of animals with pathological deviations.
Heidi Rasch Johnsen: Introduction to the foundational concepts of ethics and animal welfare.
Henning Andreas Haga: Ethical dilemmas regarding end-of-life decisions and determining when an animal's life should end.
Janicke Nordgreen: Fish cognition, learning, chronic pain, and pain management.
Judit Banfine Vas: Behavior-related welfare challenges specific to dogs.
Karianne Muri (Fagrådgiver, Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge): Human-animal relations, the welfare consequences of disease, animal abuse, and neglect.
Käthe Elise Kittelsen (Spesialveterinær Helsetjenesten for fjørfe): Poultry behavior and welfare, chronic pain in production animals, and welfare assessment methods for poultry.
Kim Kathrine L. Bellamy: Behavioral genetics, evolution, and domestication.
Lisbeth Hektoen: Behavior and welfare in cattle and small ruminants.
Marco Vindas: Methods for assessing the welfare of farmed fish.
Marit Nesje: Legal frameworks, regulations, and public administration regarding the living environments and care requirements for animals.
Mette Helen Bjørge Müller: The use and welfare of experimental animals.
Monica Nordberg (Fagrådgiver, Dyrevernalliansen): Welfare of farmed fish.
Randi Oppermann Moe: Introduction to ethics and animal welfare, consequences of disease on welfare, poultry behavior, welfare protocols, and structured group discussions.
Siri Kristine Gåsnes (Forsker, Veterinærinstituttet): Basic and applied perspectives on the welfare of fish.
Sondre Naadland (Spesialrådgiver, Animalia): Welfare challenges and management in pigs.
Veslemøy Sunniva Oma: The use and welfare of experimental animals.
Vibeke Rootwelt: Preventing animal suffering through reproductive technology.
Course Documentation and Sources
The source material is the course description for VET353 Animal Welfare at NMBU, current teaching plans, and the VET353 compendium.