Dr. Nienke van Staavern has been selected by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) panel as the joint winner of the UFAW Early Career Animal Welfare Research of the Year award for her work on improving the lives of livestock animals. van Staavern came to ABSc after completing her PhD in Ireland and currently works as a Sr. Research Associate and Project Manager with the CGIL (Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock) and CCSAW (Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare).

"We nominated Nienke for the award because, while only four years post-PhD, she already has 33 papers published in peer-reviewed journals" said ABSc prof. Dr. Alexandra Harlander. "Her animal welfare research is characterized by clarity, rigour and designs and questions that are concept driven rather than species-focused. The numerous presentations of her work to livestock and poultry industries underscore the real world impact of her work and make the field of animal welfare accessible to the public."

More information about the UFAW awardees can be found here [1].

Congratulations Nienke!