Dr Andrew Crump
Lecturer - Animal Welfare & Cognition
Department: Pathobiology & Population Sciences
Research Groups: Animal Welfare Science and Ethics, Brain Health and Behaviour
Andrew is a Lecturer in Animal Cognition & Welfare. Specialising in invertebrate welfare and animal sentience, he is especially eager to turn scientific findings into real-world impact.
Andrew joined the RVC in 2023 as a Lecturer in Animal Cognition & Welfare. He previously worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Animal Sentience at the London School of Economics, a role he began in 2020. He has experience with various species, including macaques, dogs, cattle, chickens, hermit crabs, and bees.
In 2021, Andrew was part of a team, led by Prof. Jonathan Birch, that advised the UK government to protect certain invertebrates under animal welfare law. The government responded by amending the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, so it now covers cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans.
Andrew’s background is in biology. Specialising in animal behaviour and welfare, he completed a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast in 2020. In 2016, he was awarded a first-class degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford.
Andrew is an Associate Editor in Zoology for the Cell Press journal Heliyon, serves on the Animal Welfare Research Network's Coordinating Group, and is an Affiliate of the Insect Welfare Research Society. At RVC, he sits on the Animal Welfare & Ethical Review Body (AWERB) and Student Resolution & Compliance (SRC) panels, and was formerly the UK Reproducibility Network’s Local Lead.
Every year, humans slaughter over a trillion insects and perhaps 500 billion crustaceans. These numbers dwarf the combined total of mammal and bird livestock, yet animal welfare scientists almost exclusively study vertebrates. Andrew aims to improve our understanding of invertebrate welfare and apply this knowledge to minimise any pain and suffering.
A key question is whether and which invertebrates are sentient: capable of subjectively experienced mental states (“feelings”). An animal must be sentient, in Andrew’s view, for us to care about its welfare. He, therefore, investigates cognitive and behavioural indicators of sentience in bees. Andrew and colleagues have found that bees are not simple stimulus-response robots, but react to stimuli in sophisticated, context-dependent ways. These findings are at least consistent with sentience.
Andrew also collaborates on ongoing research investigating reptile and amphibian welfare in zoos, crustacean behaviour and cognition, and animal welfare in the Global South. He has previously worked on crested macaques, dogs, dairy cattle, broiler chickens, and Siamese fighting fish.
If you're interested in working with Andrew (or just keen to chat about invertebrates, sentience, or animal welfare), then please get in touch!
Ssuna, P., Crump, A., & Siegmund, K. (2024). Animal welfare guidelines for international development organisations in the Global South. Animals, 14(13), 2012.
Gibbons, M., Pasquini, E., Kowalewska, A., Read, E., Gibson, S., Crump, A., Solvi, C., Versace, E., & Chittka, L. (2024). Noxious stimulation induces self-protective behaviour in bumblebees. iScience, in press.
Crump, A., Birch, J., Browning, H., Chittka, L., Fisher, D., Gibbons, M., Rowe, E., & Sebo, J (2024). Farmed insects: Opportunities for welfare improvement in the UK. Insect Institute.
Crump, A., Jenkins, K., Bethell, E. J., Ferris, C. P., & Arnott, G. (2024). Pasture access and eye temperature in dairy cows. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 27(2), 234-242.
Crump, A., Fischer, B., Arnott, G., Birch, J., Briffa, M., Browning, H., ... & Barrett, M. (2024). Guidelines for protecting and promoting decapod crustacean welfare in research. Insect Welfare Research Society.
Crump, A., Gibbons, M., Barrett, M., Birch, J., & Chittka, L. (2023). Is it time for insect researchers to consider their subjects’ welfare?. PLoS Biology, 21(6), e3002138.
Baqueiro-Espinosa, U., Lo, T. H., Hunter, R., Donnelly, P., McEvoy, V., Crump, A., & Arnott, G. (2023). Positive human interaction improves welfare in commercial breeding dogs: Evidence from attention bias and human sociability tests. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 262, 105904.
Crump, A., Aiken, C., Cunningham, E. M., & Arnott, G. (2023). Short-Term Microplastic Exposure Impairs Cognition in Hermit Crabs. Animals, 13(6), 1055.
McDaid, A., Cunningham, E. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Hardiman, G. (2023). The influence of microplastics on shell selection and startle behaviour of the common European hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus. Science of the Total Environment, 855, 158576.
Gibbons, M., Crump, A., Barrett, M., Sarlak, S., Birch, J., & Chittka, L. (2022). Can insects feel pain? A review of the neural and behavioural evidence. In R. Jurenka (Ed.), Advances in Insect Physiology (pp. 155-229). Academic Press.
Crump, A., Browning, H., Schnell, A. K., Burn, C., & Birch, J. (2022). Animal sentience research: Synthesis and proposals. Animal Sentience, 32(31).
Crump, A., Browning, H., Schnell, A. K., Burn, C., & Birch, J. (2022). Invertebrate sentience and sustainable seafood. Nature Food, 1-3.
McEvoy, V., Baqueiro Espinosa, U., Crump, A., & Arnott, G. (2022). Canine socialisation: A systematic narrative review. Animals, 12(21), 2895.
Crump, A. (2022). Animal sentience science and policy. Animal Sentience, 31(15).
Birch, J., & Crump, A. (2022). The lights and shadows of consciousness. Current Biology, 32, R1-R3.
Gibbons, M., Versace, E., Crump, A., Baran, B., & Chittka, L. (2022). Motivational trade-offs and modulation of nociception in bumblebees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(31), e2205821119.
Crump, A., Browning, H., Schnell, A. K., Burn, C., & Birch, J. (2022). Sentience in decapod crustaceans: A general framework and review of the evidence. Animal Sentience, 7(32).
Crump, A., & Birch, J. (2022). Animal consciousness: The interplay of neural and behavioural evidence. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 29(3-4), 104-128.
Birch, J., Broom, D. M., Browning, H., Crump, A., Ginsburg, S., Halina, M., Harrison, D., … & Zacks, O. (2022). How should we study animal consciousness scientifically? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 29(3-4), 8-28.
Birch, J., Burn, C., Schnell, A. K., Browning, H., & Crump, A. (2021). Review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans. Department for Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs (Defra).
Crump, A., & Birch, J. (2021). Separating conscious and unconscious perception in animals. Learning & Behavior, 1-2.
Cunningham, E. M., Mundye, A., Kregting, L., Dick, J., Crump, A., Riddell, G., & Arnott, G. (2021). Animal contests and microplastics: Evidence of disrupted behaviour in hermit crabs Pagurus bernhardus. Royal Society Open Science, 8, 211089.
Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Jacobs, L. (2021). Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 16966.
Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., Newberry, R. C., & Jacobs, L. (2021). Effect of environmental complexity and stocking density on fear and anxiety in broiler chickens. Animals, 11(8), 2383.
Crump, A., Jenkins, K., Bethell, E. J., Ferris, C. P., Kabboush, H., Weller, J., & Arnott, G. (2021). Optimism and pasture access in dairy cows. Scientific Reports, 11, 4882.
Crump, A., Bethell, E. J., Earley, R., Lee, V. E., Mendl, M., Oldham, L., Turner, S. P., & Arnott, G. (2020). Emotion in animal contests. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287, 28720201715.
Crump, A., Mullens, C., Bethell, E. J., Cunningham, E. M., & Arnott, G. (2020). Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection. Biology Letters, 16(4), 20200030.
Crump, A., Jenkins, K., Bethell, E. J., Ferris, C. P., & Arnott, G. (2019). Pasture access affects behavioral indicators of wellbeing in dairy cows. Animals, 9(11), 902.
Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Bethell, E. J. (2018). Affect-driven attention biases as animal welfare indicators: Review and methods. Animals, 8(8), 136.
Andrew teaches animal behaviour, cognition, and welfare, especially on our BSc Biological Sciences (Animal Behaviour, Welfare, and Ethics) pathway (ABWE). He's the Module Leader for the ABWE 2nd-year projects, Deputy Leader of the "Animals & Human Society" module, and an academic tutor for ABWE students. He also guest lectures on Queen's University Belfast's MSc in Animal Behaviour & Welfare.
Andrew has a Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Education (with distinction) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
He welcomes enquiries about supervising student projects, from undergraduate to PhD level – especially those involving invertebrates or zoo animals.
Andrew works with governments and NGOs to inform animal welfare policy. He and his colleagues recommended including certain invertebrates in the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, leading to a parliamentary amendment and legal protection for cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans. He also wrote a major report on farmed insect welfare for the UK government.
In partnership with Defra and NGOs, Andrew has chaired stakeholder workshops on invertebrate sentience. South Korean and New Zealand government advisors have also invited him to discuss welfare law.
He collaborates with various NGOs, including the Insect Institute, Crustacean Compassion, and Wild Animal Initiative. As a hired consultant, he has also advised industry on animal welfare issues.
Andrew is always keen to talk about animal welfare with school and college students.