Rate My Professor Michael Mendl

Professor Michael T Mendl holds an M.A., Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (Cantab.), and a BA (Hons). He is Professor of Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol. His research focuses on the links between affective states and cognitive processes in animals, including how attention, memory and decision-making influence and are influenced by emotional state. He investigates affect-induced modulation of decision-making, known as cognitive biases, as indicators of animal affect and welfare. Additional interests include the evolution and function of affective states and sentience, development of new measures of animal emotion and welfare, animal cognition, personality and resilience, social behaviour, and the effects of early experience.

Professor Mendl heads the Bristol Vet School Animal Welfare and Behaviour Research Community and previously led the UK Animal Welfare Research Network. He serves on grant panels including UKRI FLF and BBSRC, and advisory bodies such as the International Scientific Advisory Board of INRAE metaprogramme on Health & Welfare of Farmed Livestock. He is on the Editorial Board of the journal Affective Science. His work involves collaborations with psychologists, computational neuroscientists and others on projects funded by BBSRC and other bodies, applying computational modelling to understand affective states and welfare in species including rodents, farm animals and companion animals.