Getting started in wild animal welfare science
Explore foundational resources for researchers.
Introduction to the field
Learn the fundamentals of wild animal welfare science, including how the field defines welfare, how it’s assessed in the wild, and what questions researchers are investigating.
Resource: Key terms
Blog posts: Core concepts
Resource: Research questions
State of the field
Wild animal welfare science is a growing field. Learn about the people conducting research in the field and the institutions supporting it, and explore the scientific literature.
Database: Research we've funded
Notable papers:
Social information about others' affective states in a human-altered world (Hahn et al. 2026)
The emerging field of wild animal welfare science (Elliott et al. 2026)
Improving wild animal welfare through contraception (Eckerström Liedholm et al. 2024)
The importance of considering age when quantifying wild animals’ welfare (Hecht 2021)
Degree and course offerings in wild animal welfare:
Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University
MSc in International Animal Welfare at Scotland’s Rural College
Stress & Resilience in the Anthropocene — course offering on the Master of Wildlife Biology Program at the University of Guelph
Resources
Explore opportunities for funding, join the community, and keep on top of the latest developments in the field.
Funding: Our research grants
Resource: Services for researchers
Research community: Join our listserv
Calendar: Upcoming events
Resource: Researcher's starter guide
Newsletter: Sign up to our mailing list
Further reading
Dive deeper into topics in wild animal welfare science.
Video: Methods workshop
Database: Our research library
Blog posts:
About Wild Animal Initiative
Wild Animal Initiative offers funding, provides researcher services, and conducts research to accelerate progress in the field.
Our collaborators
We’re excited to have collaborated with several institutions and organizations on a range of projects, initiatives, and activities related to research, education, and community building in wild animal welfare science. Our current and past collaborators include:
Research Team: Meet our staff researchers
Resource: Our research standards
Resource: Our grants review panels
Resource: FAQs
Donate: Support our work
Collaboration opportunities
We welcome enquiries from institutions regarding institutional partnerships, and from organizations or individuals interested in organizing activities related to wild animal welfare science (WAWS). This may include hosting or inviting us to contribute to talks, seminars, workshops, panel discussions, or other events focused on wild animal welfare.
University lecturers, professors, and other teaching staff interested in integrating WAWS topics into their curricula or courses are also encouraged to contact us. We would be pleased to discuss potential teaching resources, guest lectures, course content, or other forms of academic collaboration.
For enquiries regarding research collaborations, events, talks, teaching, or other opportunities related to WAWS, or if you’d like to get in touch with us or our network regarding an institutional partnership, please contact science@wildanimalinitiative.org.