Wednesday, 12 April 2017

Second Announcement: "From beak to tail – mechanisms underlying damaging behaviour in laying hens and pigs", ISAE 2017 Satellite Meeting

Second Announcement for the ISAE 2017 Satellite Meeting:

"From beak to tail – mechanisms underlying damaging  behaviour in laying hens and pigs"
Organized jointly by the FareWellDock Network and the GroupHouseNet COST Action.

By joining efforts on an interspecies level, we have the opportunity to greatly enhance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying tail biting and feather pecking. Both behaviours are challenging, from an animal welfare and from an economic point-of-view, while in several countries, as well as at the EU level, the ethical justification of tail docking and beak trimming is currently being debated. 

This full-day meeting will be held at the ISAE 2017 congress venue on August 7th , 2017, starting at 9am. The meeting will focus on two main themes: 'Mechanisms underlying the link between health and damaging behaviour' and 'Predisposing factors for damaging behaviour during early development'. Both themes will be introduced by invited experts, followed by short research presentations by participants, and then elaborated on in inter-species discussion groups. In addition, the program will include a networking session, with the aim to facilitate knowledge exchange and future cooperation between researchers working on damaging behaviour in pigs and poultry.

Registration for the meeting will be open until May 15th, 2017. The meeting participation is limited to 80 persons, so early registration is recommended. 

For further information on the programme and venue, and on how to register, please see the "Beak to Tail" homepage or contact: anna.valros@helsinki.fi.

The workshop is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin, RSPCA and COST.

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Exam document and assessment guidelines prepared

Today I have prepared the "exam document" for the home exam in "Welfare state and welfare policies", with assessment guidelines.

References to my work in co-authored manifesto article

Some of my work is referred to (p. 15) in a manifesto article which I have co-authored:

Favareau, Don, Kalevi Kull, Gerald Ostdiek, Timo Maran, Louise Westling, Paul Cobley, Frederik Stjernfelt, Myrdene Anderson, Morten Tønnessen and Wendy Wheeler 2017. How can the study of the humanities inform the study ofbiosemiotics? Biosemiotics 10(1). DOI: 10.1007/s12304-017-9287-6 (published online April 8th 2017).

The references are to:
Beever, J., & Tønnessen, M. (2013). "Darwin und die Englische moral": the moral consequences of Uexküll’s umwelt theory. Biosemiotics, 6(3), 437–447.
Tønnessen, M. (2003). Umwelt ethics. Sign Systems Studies, 31(1), 281–299.
Tønnessen, M. (2009). Signs grow – But should they? Semioethics and the dominant semiosis of Homo sapiens sapiens (= Meditationes Semioticae I). Hortus Semioticus, 4, 81–84.
Tønnessen, M., & Beever, J. (2014). Beyond sentience: Biosemiotics as foundation for animal and environmental ethics. In J. Hadley & E. Aaltola (Eds.), Animal ethics and philosophy: questioning the orthodoxy (pp. 47–62). London: Rowman & Littlefield International.
von Uexküll, J. (2013). Darwin and the English morality. Translation of "Darwin und die Englische moral", Deutsche Rundschau 173: 215–242. (trans.) M. Tønnessen, (Ed.), J. Beever. Biosemiotics, 6(3), 449–471.

Monday, 10 April 2017

Two research articles to be added to compulsory readings

I have just suggested a couple of research articles to add to the compulsory readings in Examen Philosophicum at Department of social studies - Næss and Polanyi. To be approved by study coordinator, who requested such changes (namely to existing supplement text books with a few research articles) as a follow-up to NOKUT´s evaluation of the department´s bachelor studies in social work and child welfare.

"How can the study of the humanities inform the study of biosemiotics?" published online

The manifesto-like article referred to below has just appeared online.

Favareau, Don, Kalevi Kull, Gerald Ostdiek, Timo Maran, Louise Westling, Paul Cobley, Frederik Stjernfelt, Myrdene Anderson, Morten Tønnessen and Wendy Wheeler. How can the study of the humanities inform the study of biosemiotics? Biosemiotics 10(1). DOI: 10.1007/s12304-017-9287-6 (published online April 8th 2017).

Planning meeting on Skopje GroupHouseNet stakeholder workshop

I have just taken part in a planning meeting of GroupHouseNet (Synergy for damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens) in relation to our planned stakeholder workshop in Skopje, Macedonia, on June 7th.

Friday, 7 April 2017

Updated Brief Academic CV

I have updated 4-5 points in my Brief Academic CV, see the right-hand margin of this blog.