Research
Research interests
- Philosophy of animal minds
- Animal ethics
- Animal welfare science
- Philosophy of biology
- Philosophy of mind
Current research
My research focuses on concepts and measurement of animal welfare, and how this influences our ethical deliberations and policy decisions. There are two primary strands to this research: a philosophy of science strand, and an applied ethics strand.
The first involves a philosophical analysis of the methods and challenges in animal welfare science, with an aim to identify problems and improve the measurement of animal welfare. In particular, examining the ways in which an understanding of the evolution of and mechanisms of sentience can help refine and improve the ways we do animal welfare science.
The second looks at how we can develop an empirically-informed animal ethics, based on a deep understanding of the biology, psychology and evolution of animals and how this might be applied to specific issues within animal ethics. I have recently published with a short book called What Are Zoos For?, as part of a series with Bristol University Press.
Research projects
Completed projects
Researchers:
Publications
86 publications
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Teaching
I primarily teach on animal ethics and the philosophy of animal minds, as well as philosophy of science and applied ethics.
External roles and responsibilities
Name:
The challenge of interspecies welfare comparisons
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Using research to change the law: Animal sentience
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Welfare concerns for managing surplus animals
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Speaker
Year:
2024
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How do we know what's good for insects?
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Speaker
Year:
2024
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Animal welfare in theory and practice
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Speaker
Year:
2024
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Conceptual engineering for animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
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From animal to AI welfare
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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An animal-centred perspective on conservation concepts
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Sentience in cephalopod molluscs: An updated assessment
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Evidence for consciousness in non-human animals
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Letting animals speak: Increasing animal agency with Animal-Computer Interaction
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Speaker
Year:
2026
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Animal consciousness and welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
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Increasing animal agency with animal-computer interaction
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Speaker
Year:
2025
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Taking an animal-centred perspective
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Speaker
Year:
2025
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Animal welfare and the search for a hedonic common currency
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2025
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Animal welfare challenges in de-extinction
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Speaker
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2025
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Positive wild animal welfare
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Speaker
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2025
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From subjects to stakeholders: Centring animals in welfare research
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Year:
2025
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Sentience report and legislation
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2025
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Mapping animal affect
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Speaker
Year:
2024
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Best practice for welfare assessment and behavioural indicators to use in aquaculture
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
What animals can teach us about consciousness
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Life Story of Philosopher & Former Zookeeper, Heather Browning
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Measuring subjective animal welfare with Heather Browning
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Evaluating measures of animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
How to choose an animal welfare concept
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
Positive aspects of wild animal welfare
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Speaker
Year:
2024
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How do we set thresholds for animal welfare?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
Animal sentience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
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The problems with making intra-individual welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
What is wild animal welfare?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Constructing animal affect profiles
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Animal suffering
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
The importance of animal sentience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Conceptual engineering for animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
How can we know what is good for insects?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Sentience, welfare, and ecology
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
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Invertebrate sentience and policy
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
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Are there multiple relevant welfare thresholds?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Animal welfare panel
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
The underdetermination problem for interspecies welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Animal behaviour and welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
How to choose a welfare measure
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Constructing animal affect profiles
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Understanding animal interests through affect profiles
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
Name:
Modes of (Well)Being
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
The complexities of intrapersonal welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
Invertebrate sentience and welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Validating indicators of subjective animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Insect sentience and policy implications
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
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Determining the line of acceptable welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
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Measuring the welfare impact of fertility control
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
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Human and animal experience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
Name:
Elephant in the (Court)room: Why are animal rights such a grey area?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
Assessing animal sentience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
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Cephalopod sentience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
The use of welfare indicators in aquaculture
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Hoppers and animal minds
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2026
Name:
Should we still have zoos?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2026
Name:
Do animals have consciousness?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
Name:
What Are Zoos For?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
Name:
How should we treat animals?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
Name:
What is it like to be a crow?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2026
Name:
What (and who) Are Zoos For?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
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Animal Sentience
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2025
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Can invertebrates feel pain?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2024
Name:
Should we farm octopus?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2023
Name:
A framework for interspecies welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
The extrapolation problem for indicators of consciousness
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Interspecies welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Animal ethics
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
What rights should invertebrates have?
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
Animal sentience in UK policy making
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Constructing animal affect profiles
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Management euthanasia and animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Making interspecies comparisons of animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Suffering matters even if we didn't cause it: Heather Browning - zookeeping to philosophy
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Assessing measures of animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Wild animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Making intersubjective welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Animals and longtermism
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
If I could talk to the animals: Measuring subjective animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2020
Name:
De-extinction and animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2022
Name:
The natural behavior debate: Two conceptions of animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2020
Name:
Sentience research and welfare science: a promising partnership
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2019
Name:
Sentience research and welfare science: A promising partnership
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2018
Name:
Making inter-species welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2017
Name:
Integrating animal consciousness into welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
If I could talk to the animals
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2018
Name:
Effective animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2019
Name:
The case for positive wild animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Non-human consciousness
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
Developing a metric of usable space for zoo exhibits
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2020
Name:
It鈥檚 a fine line between pleasure and pain: comparing positive and negative animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2019
Name:
Measuring animal suffering
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2019
Name:
Addressing individual animal interests within the zoo context
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
The Sentience Debate: The moral value of shrimps, insects, and oysters
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2021
Name:
The lion or the lungfish: making intersubjective welfare comparisons
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2018
Name:
Validating scientific indicators of hidden targets
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2017
Name:
Won鈥檛 somebody please think of the mammoths? De-extinction and animal welfare鈥
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2016
Name:
Management euthanasia and animal welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2016
Name:
Animal welfare is subjective welfare
Role:
Speaker
Year:
2015
Biography
Dr Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the 九色视频.
She joined the department in 2022, after spending two years as a postdoctoral researcher in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics, as part of the project. During this time, she was part of the research team who produced a for DEFRA reviewing the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans, leading to an amendment of the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act to include their protection.
She completed her PhD at the Australian National University in 2020, with a on the measurement of animal welfare.
Heather also spent many years working as a zookeeper and zoo animal welfare officer, interested in the practical application of animal welfare measurement.
Prizes
- Science for Animal Welfare Early Career Animal Welfare Researcher of the Year Award (2026)
- Postgraduate Presentation Prize (2018)