
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals—Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy
Part of the International Electronic Conference on Animals series
5–20 Dec 2020
Sustainability, Animal Welfare, Animal Health
- Go to the Sessions
- Event Details
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- Welcome from the Chair
- Conference Secretariat
- Conference Chairs
- Conference Speakers
- Sessions
- List of Accepted Submissions
- IECA 2020 Live Online Session Recording
- IECA Keynote Speakers' Video Presentations
- List of Authors
- Event Awards
- Instructions for Authors
- Special Issue for IECA2020
- Sponsors and Partners
- Editions in this series
Dear Scientists, Researchers, and Authors,
We are delighted to announce that the IECA2020 has been closed successfully. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to all the participants for their contributions and, to all the chairs and committee members for their excellent work.
Please also note that the winner of the Best Presentation Award has been announced here.
Finally, we would like to remind you that all participants are welcome to submit an extended full paper to the Special Issue for IECA2020 in the journal Animals, with a 20% discount on the Article Processing Charges.
Welcome from the Chair
Welcome to the 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals — Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy
Dear scientists, researchers, and authors,
We are pleased to announce that the 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals — Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy will open for discussions on 5th December at https://ieca2020.sciforum.net/.
This conference will be a robust common platform for leading scientists working in the field of Animal Science to share and discuss their latest research and to promote the advancement of this exciting and rapidly changing field. We hope to encourage discovery across the discipline as we cover the following five broad themes in sessions A–E:
- Climate change and sustainability of animal systems
- Sustainability of animal use and demand for animal products
- Animal welfare, ethics, policy, and politics
- Animal health and sustainability
- Sustainable animal feeding
Participants will have the opportunity to examine, explore, and critically engage with issues and advances in these areas. We hope to facilitate discussions and exchange within the community. We proudly invite the global community of scholars to join IECA2020 to present their latest animal research and development and share novel ideas about the multidisciplinary aspects of research and development of global sustainability and animals
We hope you will be able to join this exciting event, which is organized and sponsored by MDPI, a scholarly open access publisher (https://www.mdpi.com/). We look forward to your contributions and discussions.
Clive Phillips,
Chair of the 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals — Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy.
Conference Secretariat
Ms. Zarol Han
MDPI Branch Office, Beijing
E-Mail: [email protected]
Ms. Melina Wen
MDPI Branch Office, Beijing
E-Mail: [email protected]
Ms. Hellen Wang
MDPI Branch Office, Beijing
E-Mail: [email protected]
Sponsoring Opportunities
For information regarding sponsoring opportunities, please contact the conference secretariat.
Conference Chairs

Dr Clive C.J. Phillips Editor-in-Chief, Animals, and Chair, Queensland Government Animal Welfare Advisory Board E-mail: [email protected]
Interests: animal welfare; animal ethics; captive animal management; heavy metals in animals
[email protected]
Conference Committee

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
[email protected]

Department of Politics and Society, University of Winchester, Winchester SO22 4NR, UK
[email protected]

Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1
[email protected]

Adjunct Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, Université Laval
Adjunct professor, Département de pathologie et de microbiologie, University of Montréal
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Sherbrooke
Regular member of the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF), Laval University
Member of the Swine and poultry infec
[email protected]
Keynote Speakers

St Catharine's College and Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK
Will speak on the session: Animal Welfare, Ethics, Policy, and Politics
Emeritus Professor of St Catharine's College and Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.
[email protected]

Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
session: Climate Change and the Sustainability of Animal Systems
[email protected]

Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Session: The Sustainability of Animal Use and Demand for Animal Products
[email protected]

Department of Animal Sciences, Food and Nutrition (DIANA), Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Session: Animal Health and Sustainability
Professor Emeritus of Zootecnica Speciale
[email protected]

College of Veterinary Medicine, University National Autonomia Mexico, Av. Universidad 3000, México D.F. 04510, Mexico
Session:Sustainable Animal Feeding
[email protected]

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Interests: agricultural and livestock engineering; rural buildings; GHG emissions; agro-environmental sustainability; by-products, biomass and renewable energies
List of accepted submissions (20)
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sciforum-041164 | The Intersection of Animals and Global Sustainability – A Critical Studies Terrain for Better Policies? | N/A | N/A |
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At the UN-level, it has only recently been acknowledged that the welfare of animals is not, but should be, part of the Sustainable Development Agenda. Since then, and more vehemently so since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, initiatives and publications have come out, drawing out the interconnections between animal welfare and protection on the one hand, and on the other hand, ecosystem destruction, species extinction, the climate crisis, industrial animal agriculture and the emergence of zoonoses. Arguments have also been made that sustainability and animal protection is something of an oxymoron with in particular farm animals being treated as vehicles to achieve sustainability rather than being agents who under a justice perspective should be beneficiaries of the sustainability transition. To address the many un-sustainabilities, many urge to move away from anthropocentric notions of sustainability. Others have begun to approach the notion of sustainability from a critical theory perspective. This parallels developments in relevant related fields. Critical animal studies is already well established. Moreover, we are observing the birth of a new field, the veterinary humanities, with indications of a critical veterinary humanities emerging. In this paper, it is discussed what a critical theory perspective would bring to the intersection of global sustainability and animals. In conclusion, an interspecies sustainability theory is suggested that needs to be conceptualised as a critical theory to address the multiple sustainability crises and to protect animals. |
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sciforum-041362 | Chunky reproduces better? Small rodent fertility and fitness in commercial orchards | , , | N/A |
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Rodents are an important part of agricultural ecosystems, including within commercial orchards. In 2018–2020, we studied small mammals in commercial orchards in Lithuania (northern Europe), snap-trapping them twice a year (in June–July and September–October, 1450 individuals, 11 species) at 18 sites across central, northern, eastern, southern and western parts of the country. Sites were located in apple and plum orchards, as well as currant, raspberry and highbush blueberry plantations, with each site also having a control habitat (meadow or forest) adjacent. We present results of our analysis of body condition, based on body weight and body length in relation to the habitat type and the intensity of agricultural activities, and reproduction parameters (litter size, pregnancy disruption) in common, bank, short-tailed and root voles as well as yellow-necked and striped field mice, accounting for over 96% of trapped rodents. The average body condition index of A. flavicollis was C = 3.39, that of A. agrarius was C = 3.38, and of M. agrestis, M. arvalis, M. glareolus and M. oeconomus C = 3.29, 3.25, 3.23, and 3.01, respectively. Body condition of rodents was significantly dependent on species (p < 0.0001), age (p < 0.005) and gender (p < 0.05) of the individual, season (p < 0.0001) and habitat (p < 0.05); influence of crop age (p = 0.07) and intensity of agricultural practices (p = 0.12) was much weaker or insignificant. We found observed litter size decreasing in autumn in all rodents; that in M. arvalis and A. flavicollis was significant, and there was a tendency to decrease in M. oeconomus. A decrease of the observed litter size in area with higher intensity of agricultural practices was registered for M. arvalis and M. oeconomus, trend in M. glareolus was not significant. In A. flavicollis litter size was similar irrespective of intensity of agricultural practices. In spring, litter size was significantly correlated with the female body mass in M. oeconomus (r = 0.67, p < 0.05, body mass explained 45% of variation of the litter size) and A. flavicollis (r = 0.53, p < 0.005, 27% of litter size variation explained). In autumn, litter size and female body mass was positively correlated in all rodent species. Female body condition index and litter size correlations were weak. Therefore, old orchards with low intensity of agricultural practices are important habitats, maintaining sustainable rodent populations and diversity of animals in the agrolandscape. |
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sciforum-040951 | Post-mortem energy metabolites, glycolytic potential and meat quality attributes from of Dorper and Merino lambs | , | N/A | N/A |
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This study was conducted to evaluate the susceptibility of the Dorper and Merino breeds to pre-slaughter conditions stress at a commercial abattoir and how it affects the quality of the meat produced. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in post-mortem energy metabolites, glycolytic potential and meat quality attributes from Muscularis longimissius thoracis et lumborum (LTL) between Dorper and Merino lambs slaughtered at a commercial abattoir. Meat samples (~50 grams of LTL) harvested from 100 female eight-month old of the Dorper (n=50) and Merino (n=50) lambs were used in this study. For measuring post-mortem energy metabolites (glycogen, lactate, glucose-6-phosphate and glucose content) sampling was done on each carcass ~ 30 minutes post-slaughter and the samples were immediately frozen (-196 °C) in liquid nitrogen to prevent further glycolysis. The pH and temperature were measured 45 minutes, 6 and 24 hours post-slaughter, and carcass measurements were taken. Colour coordinates (lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*)) were measured at 24 hours after slaughter and hue angle (H*) and chroma (C*) were calculated. Furthermore, thawing loss (TL), cooking loss (CL) and Warner Braztler Shear Force (WBSF) were measured after 7 days post-slaughter storage (-20 ºC). The Dorper had lower glycogen levels thus produced meat with a high ultimate pH and tougher meat compared to the Merino breed. The relationships observed between post-mortem muscle metabolites, glycolytic potential and meat quality attributes indicate that meat quality is affected by glycogen levels at slaughter. The results indicate that the Dorper breed was more susceptible to pre-slaughter stress and thus produced meat with reduced quality compared to the Merino breed. |
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sciforum-041558 | Enabling behaviour change in laying hen farmers using Motivational Interviewing (MI) | , , |
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Laying hens with poor feather cover eat more feed, are less productive and have higher levels of morbidity and mortality. This welfare and sustainability issue is complex and requires a proactive, multi-pronged approach. The aim of this UK study was to test a support approach for commercial implementation and uptake of evidence-based strategies aimed at reducing injurious pecking (IP) in 29 flocks of free range (FR), aviary and enriched cages (EC). This was accomplished by using Motivational Interviewing (MI) to facilitate farmer ownership over maintaining feather cover by co-developing bespoke Feather Cover Action Plans (FCAP). Recruitment included farmers with initial ranges of attitudes from not regarding IP as a priority, to engaged first adopters. The MI approach resulted in 80% of farmers making changes to their management and resource provision, with 90% of farmers of (FR) and half of those using (EC) making changes. Up to 9 actions were implemented from their FCAP (average 3 on FR farms) and 67% of all planned changes had been achieved on average 9 months later. While some changes were inexpensive and durable, such as providing rope or plastic objects, others were capital investments like verandas, planting trees, renewing and strategically placing artificial shelters, frequently replenishing lucerne, removing capped litter plus adding pecking rings in enriched cages. Reflecting on the value of their FCAP, farmers recognised that being part of the project not only raised their awareness of IP and the importance of maintaining good feather cover but also motivated them to make changes. They recognised the value of the facilitator and noted that successful outcomes gave incentive to make further progress. Half the farmers felt their FCAP had been successful in reducing IP within their flocks. This approach therefore has potential to improve both the sustainability of egg production and hen welfare.
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sciforum-041246 | Demand for animal-based food products and sustainability |
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The demand for animal-based food products is growing across the world, and many are consciously consuming a protein-rich diet. However, the growing consumption of animal proteins contradicts the Earth's ability to sustainably feed its population. Curbing emissions from agriculture, and especially from livestock production, is essential to fulfilling the Paris Agreement and shifting to a different diet, including EAT-Lancet's Planetary Health Diet, the flexitarian diet, and other ethically based dietary choices. Consuming modest or lower amounts of meat is viewed as one of the ways toward achieving sustainability. An increased focus on plant-based foods and other meat alternatives presents a strong potential for reducing agriculture-induced emissions and transitioning towards a more plant-based agricultural sector and underlines the need for worldwide national policies incentivizing this transition. The presentation explores whether consumers are ready to shift to a diet which is better for their health and that of the natural environment. |
IECA 2020 Live Online Session Recording
The Opening Ceremony of the MDPI “1st International Electronic Conference on Animals—Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy” was held on Monday 2 November 2020. This online seminar was chaired by Professor Clive J. C. Phillips and Professor Donald Broom give very interesting presentations. Both talks were followed by a Q&A session to answer any questions submitted by the live online audience. The live session was offered via Zoom and registration was required for attendance. The full recording can be found below.
IECA Keynote Speakers' Video Presentations
You can find the video presentations of the keynote speakers below. We hope you enjoy the videos and share your opinions with them!
You may also find their presentations and communicate with the speakers on the session "Submission".
Keynote Speaker: Professor Dora Marinova
Keynote Speaker: Professor Emeritus Giuseppe Bertoni
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Diana Bogueva
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Francisco Galindo Maldonado
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Andrea Pezzuolo
List of Authors (53)
Event Awards
Best Presentation Award-Winner Announcement
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Presentation Award for IECA 2020 . The winner will receive 500 CHF.
The winner is as follow:
Enabling behaviour change in laying hen farmers using Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Paula Baker, Jessica Stokes, Claire Weeks
session Sustainable animal welfare, ethics, policies and politics
Best Speaker Award-Winner Announcement
Professor Donald Broom
St Catharine's College and Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
Session: Sustainable animal welfare, ethics, policies and politics
Congratulations to the winners for their excellent work!
The Awards
Animals offers one award to our participants at the conference: Best Presentation Award (1): 500 CHF The winner will be assessed by the Conference Committee.
Animals offers one award to our participants at the conference: Best Speaker Award (1): 300 CHF . The winner will be assessed by the Conference Committee.
Instructions for Authors
- Scholars interested in participating with the conference can submit their abstract (about 200-300 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online on this website until 11 October 2020 20 November 2020.
- The Conference Committee will pre-evaluate, based on the submitted abstract, whether a contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for the 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals—Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy. All authors will be notified by 16 October 2020 25 November 2020 about the acceptance of their abstract.
- If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author is asked to submit the manuscript, optionally along with a PowerPoint and/or video presentation of his/her paper (only PDF), until the submission deadline of 31 October 2020 30 November 2020.
- The conference proceedings papers and presentations will be available on https://ieca2020.sciforum.net/ for discussion during the time of the conference 2–27 November 2020 5–20 December 2020 and will be published in Journal Proceedings.
- The Open Access Journal Animals will publish Special Issue of the conference and accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference itself. After the conference, the Conference Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in the Special Issue of the journal Animals.
- (the submission to the journal is independent of the conference proceedings and will follow the usual process of the journal, including peer-review, APC, etc.).
First page:
- Title
- Full author names
- Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses
- Abstract (200-250 words)
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results and Discussion
- Conclusions
- (Acknowledgements)
- References
Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to the PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should count at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables and references) and should not exceed 6 pages.
You are also and only allowed to submit a Poster(Presentation PDF) instead of the proceedings paper. Posters can be presented without an accompanying proceedings paper and will be available online on this website during and after the e-conference. However, they will not be added to the journal Proceedings of the conference.
Video---Authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. If you are interested in submitting a video presentation, please contact the conference organizer at [email protected] to find out more about the procedure. This is a unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us for this project!
• The video should be no longer than 10 minutes and be prepared with the following formats: .MOV; .MPEG4; .MP4; .AVI; .WMV; .MPEGPS; .FLV.
• The video should be submitted via [email protected] before 31 October 2020.
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://ieca2020.sciforum.net/ by registering and logging in to this website.
Accepted File Formats
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MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the IECA 2020 Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult.
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LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (include all source files and images, so that the Conference Secretariat can recompile the submitted PDF). When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use THE IECA 2020 LaTeX template files.
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Paper Format: A4 paper format, the printing area is 17.5 cm x 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).
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Paper Length: The conference proceedings paper should not be longer than 6 pages. The conference manuscript should be as concise as possible.
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Formatting / Style: The paper style of the Journal Proceedings should be followed. You may download the template file to prepare your paper (see above). The full titles and the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [4] or [1-3], and all the references should be listed separately and as the last section at the end of the manuscript.
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Authors List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle name can be added. For papers written by various contributors a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information including city, zip code, state/province, country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties, who provided only minor contributions, should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.
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Figures, Schemes and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figure and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and a explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, a figure or a scheme.
Special Issue for IECA2020
Special Issue "Special Issue for IECA2020"
Selected Papers from The 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals—Global Sustainability and Animals: Science, Ethics and Policy(IECA2020)
Edited by Prof. Clive J. C. Phillips(Curtin University Sustainable Policy (CUSP) Institute, Australia)
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 2 April 2021.
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This special issue is open for submissions of papers presented at 1st International Electronic Conference on Animals (IECA2020), 2-27 November 2020.
Prof. Clive J. C. Phillips
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
A. Climate change and effects on the sustainability of animal systems
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B. Sustainability of animal use and demand for animal products
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C. Sustainable animal welfare, ethics, policies and politics
D. Sustainable animal health
E. Sustainable animal feeding
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