Royal Veterinary College awarded prestigious grant to transform understanding of animal and human relationships 

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC), in partnership with the University of Exeter, has been awarded a prestigious multi-million-pound Leverhulme Centenary Doctoral Scholarship grant by the Leverhulme Trust.

The grant is one of only 10 awards to mark the Trust’s centenary and will support the establishment of an ambitious doctoral training programme that will transform our understanding of animals and our relationships with them.

“Knowing Animals: The Leverhulme Doctoral Programme on Interdisciplinary Pathways to Multispecies Understanding” will commence in October 2027 and will support up to 24 PhD students.

In order to broaden access to these opportunities, the Programme will also include six dedicated Masters plus PhD studentships, for students from under-represented backgrounds. 

The RVC-Exeter partnership will bring together world-class academic excellence from animal welfare science, animal behaviour and ecology to the humanities, the arts and more.

Studying questions that span these subject areas will equip a new generation of researchers to more profoundly understand and represent animals’ perspectives and deploy this holistic knowledge to navigate the complex and changing relations between animals and humans. 

These relationships – and how they are currently understood – are central to many of today’s key global challenges, from food security and antimicrobial resistance to biodiversity loss and global warming, as well as ethical considerations around animal breeding, ownership and use.

The Leverhulme Centenary Doctoral Scholarship scheme supports ambitious, interdisciplinary doctoral training programmes that have the potential to generate new ideas and significant research advances.

This new RVC-Exeter partnership will create strong bonds across the two institutions and among the various academic disciplines and develop fresh perspectives on multispecies understanding to address challenges affecting animal, human and ecosystem wellbeing.

The programme will be led by Dr Siobhan Abeyesinghe, Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science and Head of Animal Welfare Science and Ethics at the RVC; and will be delivered in partnership with academic experts in animal behaviour; ecology; and humanities, arts and social sciences across Exeter’s departments.

Dr Abeyesinghe said: “Science is increasingly providing nuanced representations of animals’ lived experiences, demonstrating how little we yet know about their evolved wisdom – the majority of global knowledge. What animals know, and how they know, can contribute important information about the world to decisions that benefit all organisms and our shared environments. Yet it remains an untapped resource because research is currently fragmented across disciplines and animal sectors and remains decoupled from governance, ethics and justice. 

“Our goal with this exciting partnership is to develop a diverse community of world class thought leaders to build disciplinary bridges, challenge conventional thinking, transform the way we understand, value and accurately represent animal perspectives, and translate these insights into practical interventions and cultural change across policy, industry, and civil society.”

Professor Oliver Pybus FRS FMedSci, Vice Principal for Research and Innovation and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the RVC, said: “The RVC is delighted to have been awarded a Leverhulme Centenary Doctoral Scholarship award, which builds on our world-class expertise in animal welfare, behaviour and health.

“The award will train the next generation of scholars, with the potential to transform society’s understanding and appreciation of the bonds between animals and people. The award exemplifies the RVC’s values and vision and we look forward to partnering with the University of Exeter in delivering it.”

Joah Madden, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology working in the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter, and Programme Co-Lead, said: “We might view a cow as muscle to pull a plough, as meat for a burger, as entertainment being ridden in a rodeo, or as a deity to worship.

“How we perceive cows, or indeed any other species, is a complex interplay of our own culture, experience and desires, coupled with our understanding of the animal itself – its form, behaviour and cognition. Our individual and societal attitudes and actions towards domestic, captive and wild animals are fundamental in addressing pressing questions including food system sustainability, biodiversity loss and new disease emergence.

“Understanding the causes and consequences of these attitudes demands a symbiosis between the humanities and social and biological sciences. This award creates a unique research collaboration, melding the extensive, world-renowned expertise in these diverse fields at Exeter and the Royal Veterinary College.”

Professor Anna Vignoles, Director of the Leverhulme Trust, said: “Doctoral scholars are the bedrock of the academic system and these scholarships provide the opportunity for people to do something exciting at the beginning of their academic career. Our focus on interdisciplinarity enables students who are working on related topics to come together and look at an issue from different angles.”