The AWSP is led by The University of Queensland, working in collaboration with 6 universities in China.
The University of Queensland

Dr Kris Descovich
Program Leader and Chief Toolbox Editor
Dr Descovich is an animal scientist working at the interface between welfare, behaviour, management and zoology. Her research aims to improve the lives of animals affected by a range of human activities, and she has a special interest in science communication. Kris works across many contexts including farming, bioscience, zoos, and animal shelters. While Kris’ work is currently based in the School of Vet Science at the University of Queensland in Australia, her research has taken her across the world to China, the UK, New Zealand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Her work as an animal welfare scientist not only improves the quality of life of animals, but also assists industries that use animals to manage the risks associated with poor animal welfare. She is the Program Leader for AWSP, Chief Editor for the Animal Welfare Toolbox, and also the Senior Editor for the International Society for Applied Ethology.

Professor Alan Tilbrook
Lead Program Advisor
Professor Alan Tilbrook is nationally and internationally recognised for leading scientific research in animal science and biomedical science (endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, behaviour, stress, and reproduction). He is a global leader in animal welfare science. Professor Tilbrook has an outstanding balanced portfolio in leadership, strategic planning, research, academia, education and government. He leads animal welfare science in the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation and the School of Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland.

Dr Kate Henning
Postdoctoral researcher and Website Developer
Dr Kate Henning is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in veterinary medicine. After nearly a decade in private clinical veterinary practice, her interest in both international animal and public health led her to pursue a PhD on zoonotic avian influenza. Kate has a particular interest in program evaluation and is passionate about the translation of research outcomes to sustainable impact. For this purpose, Kate has trained in website development and digital marketing to assist the AWSP to make animal welfare education more widely accessible.

Dr Alex Jiang
Project Administrator
Dr. Alex Jiang holds a Ph.D. in animal behavioural science from The University of Queensland, building on a longstanding dedication to animal welfare since his master’s research focused on the welfare of reptiles in captivity. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare organizations, he possesses frontline expertise in working with both domestic animals and wildlife. In this team, he contributes to supporting animal welfare projects, translating website content and tools, and coordinating the development and promotion of educational resources.
China Agricultural University

Professor Zhonghong Wu
Lead ResearcherProfessor Zhonghong Wu is a Professor of animal environment at China Agricultural University College of Animal Science & Technology, obtaining a PhD in animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction focusing on porcine reproductive biotechnology. She became a teacher in China Agricultural University engaging animal environment related teaching and research works, especially with pigs and rabbits. She is an expert on livestock environment control of national agricultural research system in China. She has conducted research on the evaluation and impact of environment on animal metabolism and reproduction, developing livestock house environmental control techniques and optimising the environmental parameters. Recently, her research has focused on the effects of cold and heat stress, restraint stress and feeding time on animal metabolic rhythm and ovarian rhythm. Zhong-Hong Wu has published over 100 scientific papers on animal environment physiology, environment control and management.

Assoc Professor Zhaohui Chen
ResearcherZhaohui Chen is an Associate Professor in the College of Animal Science and Technology, CAU. He got his Ph.D degree on Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a Visiting Scholar in the beef production lab, department of Animal science of UW. He is a member of the State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and involved in several beef production research projects. His main research areas are animal husbandry and environmental engineering, including animal behaviour and welfare, automatic control of animal husbandry environments, environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Assoc Professor Meizhi Wang
ResearcherMeizhi Wang is Associate Professor at the College of Animal Science and Technology, CAU. She got her Ph.D degree on Environmental Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University. She was a visiting Scholar in the Department of Agricultural Bioengineering, Purdue University, USA. She is a member of the Technical System of Swine Industry Innovation Team of Beijing, and a specialist of Animal Health Breeding and Environmental Control Functional Research Laboratory. Her research focuses on swine housing environment control, farm green energy, and animal husbandry engineering

ZhongYing Liu
Research AssistantZhongying Liu is a research Assistant at the College of Animal Science and Technology, CAU. She got her master’s degree on Animal Nutrition and Feed Science at CAU in 2013. She is the research assistant of Professor Zhonghong Wu since then and mainly engages in project management of environmental control of livestock housing and student management. Ever since she began to work, she participated in several key scientific research projects, such as “the China Agriculture Research System for Rabbits”, “the National Key Technology R&D Program of China” and “the Specific Funds of Public Service Research”.

Assoc Professor Jiangong Li
ResearcherDr. Jiangong Li graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral researcher in the Center of Digital Agriculture (U.S.). His research focuses on the technologies and practices to improve Animal Welfare, Environment, and Sustainability. Dr. Li’s research team is multidisciplinary and includes students in engineering, animal science, veterinary medicine, and computer science. Their research goal is to optimize decision-making to maximize improvements with the least animal detriments.
Foshan University

Dr Siyu Chen
Lead ResearcherSiyu Chen received her PhD in Animal Science from Tohoku Universality (Japan). She joined Foshan University in 2019. She is the committee member of the Animal Welfare and Healthy Breeding Branch of the Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary. She is also a member of Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary of Guangdong Province. Siyu’s research has focused on chicken behavior and welfare. She has authored over 40 scientific journal articles and 5 book sections relating on farm animal behavior and welfare.
Henan Agricultural University

Professor Tengyun Gao
Lead ResearcherTengyun Gao is currently a Professor and doctoral supervisor at the College of Animal Science and Technology of Henan Agricultural University. Professor Gao has been teaching and researching livestock ecology and ruminant production for more than 30 years, leading a research group and supervising graduate students with a focus on livestock ecology and environmental nutrition and management of ruminants. He is also the chairman of the Livestock Ecology Branch of the Chinese Association of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine. Professor Gao has published a number of scientific papers, including research on animal welfare in livestock production. As an associate editor-in-chief, he has written university textbooks “Livestock Ecology” and “Animal Protection and Welfare”.
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University

Assoc Professor Xiao Jin
Lead ResearcherDr. Xiao Jin completed PhD in Animal nutrition from Okayama University, Japan and is now a Associate Professor in the College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University. Her specific research interests include livestock nutrition, livestock production, environmental hygiene of domestic animals and animal welfare.
South China Agricultural University

Professor Yan Wang
Lead ResearcherProfessor Yan Wang is the director at the Department of Intelligent Husbandry, College of Animal Science at SCAU. She graduated with a PhD from the Universiti Putra Malaysia, and has conducted research at Purdue University in the United States and at the University of Queensland in Australia. Her work is actively engaged in talent training, scientific research and social services for smart husbandry and waste management. Professor Yan Wang has presided or participated in over 30 projects from the National Natural Science Foundation, the International Science Foundation, and the sub-projects of the 13th Five-Year Plan key R&D projects. She has published 15 national patents and was invited to serve as an editorial board member of the Journal of Domestic Animal Ecology, and reviewer for several journals such as the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, and Waste Management.

Assoc Professor Xiliang Yan
ResearcherAssociate Professor Xiliang Yan is positioned in the Department of Intelligent Husbandry, College of Animal Science at SCAU. He graduated with a PhD from Shandong University, and conducted research at Rutgers University in the United States. His current research interests are centered on understanding animal behaviors through combining big data and artificial intelligence approaches. Xiliang Yan has published over 40 journal papers and 2 book chapters. He was invited to serve as an youth editorial board member of Biochar and reviewer for several journals such as Nature Communications. He have presided or participated 3 projects from the National Natural Science Foundation.

Dr Lingna Zhang
ResearcherDr Lingna Zhang currently holds a research and teaching position on animal behavior and welfare in the College of Animal Science at SCAU. Her research interests focus on understanding the impact of modern farm technology on animal behavior and welfare. Additionally, Lingna Zhang is interested in the study of companion animals, particularly about the impact of the human-animal relationship on the behavioral health, the adoption and abandonment of cats and dogs.
Zhejiang University

Professor Ye Zhangying
Lead ResearcherZhangying Ye is a professor and associate director of the Institute of Agricultural Bio-environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University. He also serves as the vice-director of the Key Laboratory of Equipment and Informatization in Environment Controlled Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. He received a B.Sc. in Agricultural Architectural Environment and Energy Engineering from Anhui Agricultural University and Ph.D. in Agricultural Bio-Environment and Energy Engineering in 2009 from China Agricultural University. His research focuses on the fish welfare in aquaculture, aquacultural engineering, energy-efficient facilities and intelligent water treatment equipment.