My primary focus is on understanding the biology of positive animal welfare (PAW) using behaviour as a starting point but also using other disciplines and techniques as applicable including physiology, neurobiology, molecular biology and genetics. At the conceptual level, I am interested in the various ideas that are included within PAW such as positive emotions and happiness in animals (Lawrence et al., 2019).  Our conceptual work on PAW links to social science research where we try and understand different perspectives of PAW as a way of better targeting improvements to PAW in practice (e.g. Vigors and Lawrence, 2019). 

Experimentally we use different approaches to study PAW and positive experiences in animals including studies of play behaviour (e.g. Brown et al., 2015) and the use of environmental enrichment to enhance animal environments (e.g. Brown et al., 2017). Our work also includes the use of ‘rat tickling’ which has been proposed as an approach to induce positive emotions (e.g. Bombail et al., 2019; Hammond et al., 2019).

An important element of our work is to understand the relationship between the conditions under which animals are managed and their brain health. Brain health as a concept has been largely confined to humans and refers to how the brain copes with challenges such as old age and neuro-degenerative diseases. However, much of what we know about brain health comes from animal studies and there is increasing evidence that the concept of brain health also has considerable significance to animal health and welfare.  We have found evidence of positive effects from short and longer-term exposure to enrichment in grower pigs on brain development and health (see Brown et al., 2017 and Brown et al., 2018). We are currently analysing the effects of early life enrichment on brain development in piglets using a variety of measurement approaches including MRI.

This research is carried out as a joint activity between SRUC and the University of Edinburgh. My current collaborators include Emma Baxter, Kenny Rutherford, Simon Turner, Cathy Dwyer, Rainer Roehe and Belinda Vigors (SRUC); Simone Meddle, Sarah Brown, Neil Mabbott and Chris Hayley (Roslin) and Barry McColl and Gerry Thompson (University of Edinburgh).

Professor of Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Lawrence is an established international expert in animal behaviour and welfare. He carried out his PhD on sheep social behaviour under the supervision of Professor David Wood-Gush (an early founder of animal welfare science) before building a team of researchers focusing on the application of animal behaviour to interpret and improve animal welfare in a range of farm species. His past research interests have included the aetiology of stereotypic behaviour, the measurement of stress and negative emotional states, the role of early experience in neonatal development and welfare, the genetics of behavioural traits and young peoples’ perceptions of animal welfare.  Since stepping down as Head of the Animal & Veterinary Science Group (SRUC) in 2014 he has been working on positive animal welfare including conceptual work and experimental research on play behaviour and environmental enrichment. More recently, he has begun work on the concept of brain health and the relevance of this to animal health and welfare. 

I regard teaching as an essential aspect of an academic career. I have taught throughout my career at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to a mixture of students from biological, agricultural and veterinary courses. I am a co-founder of the internationally recognised MSc in Applied Animal & Welfare at Edinburgh which has been running successfully in Edinburgh since 1990. 

PhD student (2018-2022) ‘Assessing and understanding causes of play in calves’ joint with University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
PhD student (2018-2022) ‘Rat tickling as a model to understand and improve positive welfare in confined animals’ joint with INRAE, Paris and The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh
PhD student (2018-2021) ‘Neurological correlates of rat tickling’ joint with The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh
PhD student (2019-2023) ‘Effects of early play on later resilience in rats’ joint with the University of Edinburgh
PhD student (2019-2024) ‘Practical diets to improve dry sow welfare: improving satiety and reducing gastric ulcers’ with Edinburgh University

2015-2021 Research leader for the Workpackage on Livestock Welfare funded as part of the Scottish Government 5 year Strategic Research Programme £450k 
2015 Leverhulme Award to support an Artist in Residence working on artistic interpretations of pig behaviour (Andrea Roe) £15k 
2016 awarded in a SRUC competition for distribution of REG funding to support research into mechanisms underlying positive well-being states in animals £80k 
2018 in support of a SRUC studentship to research to understand and improve positive welfare in confined animals £124k 
2018 awarded by the Wellcome-University of Edinburgh Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) in support of pig neuroimmune research at Edinburgh £57k 
2020 awarded by the BBSRC in support of research to operationalise social competence to improve the welfare of pigs £686k