Meet the Presenters
Dr. Cassandra Tucker PhD (2003)
Professor and Director of the Center for Animal Welfare, Department of Animal Science, UC Davis
Cassandra Tucker obtained a PhD from the Animal Welfare Program of the University of British Columbia in 2003 and is now a Professor at the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and the Director of the Centre of Animal Welfare. Her research team specializes in the field of cattle behaviour and welfare; they aim to understand the effects of housing and management systems from the animal’s perspective. Her teaching is focused on topics related to domestic animal behaviour and welfare. In addition to her work in academia, she consults with private, industry and non-governmental organizations to develop animal care standards, training and auditing programs. Cassandra believes that through these activities, scientific information can inform the day-to-day lives of both cattle and the people that care for them.
Dr. Kathryn Proudfoot MSc (2008), PhD (2013)
Associate Professor, Director of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre
Kathryn Proudfoot obtained a MSc from the Animal Welfare Program of the University of British Columbia in 2008, and a PhD in 2013. She now acts as an Associate Professor at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island (Canada) as well as the Director of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre. She currently teaches animal behaviour and welfare to veterinary students and conducts research aiming to improve the lives of dairy cattle, especially the welfare of dairy cows before and after giving birth. Kathryn often utilizes a mixed methods approach to her research to address controversial animal welfare concerns.
Dr. Becca Franks Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2014-16)
Research Scientist Department of Environmental Studies New York University
Becca Franks, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU, holds B.A. in Anthropology from NYU, a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University, and was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC, where she was awarded the Killam Research Prize. Franks’s research and teaching lie at the intersection of environmental and animal protection, specializing in animal behaviour, aquatic animal welfare, quantitative methods, and human-animal relationships. In addition to publishing scholarly articles, commentaries, and book chapters, she has co-edited a special issue in Frontiers in Veterinary Science and is an Associate Editor for the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.