The 2013 winners of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Welfare Science were presented with their awards in Barcelona at the Federation’s International Symposium ‘Science in the Service of Animal Welfare: Priorities around the world’. A commemorative medal and £3,000 was presented to Professor Peter Sandøe who has been very influential in the development of animal welfare science internationally.
Peter Sandøe is Professor of Bioethics in the Department of Large Animal Sciences and Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen. He is also Director of the Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment. Over the past two decades he has established himself in a unique position in the academic study, university teaching and public discussion of animal welfare and animal ethics. In his interdisciplinary work with animal welfare researchers, veterinarians and animal scientists, he has used his expertise in philosophy to ensure that critical questions of ethical relevance are asked and appropriately analysed. He has published many influential papers, many textbook chapters and web-based teaching materials, and his expertise, clarity of thought and wisdom is widely sought.