Arthropoda Foundation

Arthropoda Foundation - Call for Proposals The Arthropoda Foundation is currently accepting expressions of interest for its current call for proposals. Please fill out this form to apply. Any questions may be directed to grants@arthropodafound...

Calling all shrimp and aquaculture researchers! 🦐

We're funding research on Pacific white shrimp & giant tiger prawn welfare in commercial settings—work that could impact billions of animals.

Up to $10K ($50K for exceptional projects). EOIs due Jan 15, 2026.

Apply: bit.ly/3KVCwMR

Join us Sept 24, 5 PM BST for our seminar with Prof. Kristoffer Whitney (Rochester Institute of Technology): "Blood Money: The history of horseshoe crabs in science and medicine"

He will explore historical, political, and ethical issues related to marine invertebrate welfare: bit.ly/3K2acYC

Fantastic talk by @birchlse.bsky.social on ethical review for insect research as part of @royentsoc.bsky.social #Ento25 insect ethics workshop

@insectwrs.bsky.social

YouTube video by Insect Welfare Research Society How Can We Measure Sentience in an Insect?

Thanks to those who joined our webinar featuring Dr. Matilda Gibbons (University of Pennsylvania): "How Can We Measure Sentience in an Insect?"

In case you missed it, the video is available on our YouTube channel: youtu.be/HajWZuMto0A

Check out @royentsoc.bsky.social's Welfare & Ethics forum, one of their 20+ Special Interest Groups! 🐛

In vertebrates, play is often seen as highly relevant for animal welfare. Studying the implications of this behavior for Drosophila well-being could be a great thing to propose for our current CFP round! www.arthropodafoundation.org/call-for-pro...

Play-like behavior exhibited by the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster Triphan et al. show flies seeking the sensation of repeated, play-like carousel visits, even if two carousels provide spatially and temporally dissociated spinning. They propose how this voluntary pas...

Fascinating paper by @wolfhuette.bsky.social and colleagues from a few months back.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

only 7 days left to submit an EOI to our first call for proposals 😱

If you work on #arthropods 🪲🐜🪳🦐🦗🦂🐝 of any kind and want to study their welfare scientifically, we have 💰for you!

Only 20 days left until Expression of Interest submissions closes! We can't wait to see your proposals!

To Puddle or Not To Puddle: Review Highlights Unanswered Questions About Butterfly Behavior A new review on "puddling" in butterflies details current knowledge on this nutrient-gathering behavior and how much remains unknown about why they gather.

New on Entomology Today: Many butterfly species often congregate in puddles, rotting organic matter, or other moist surfaces. A new review on "puddling" in butterflies details current knowledge on this nutrient-gathering behavior but also shows how much remains unknown about why they gather.

Happening today!

Wild bees* are great! If you're interested in studying their welfare scientifically, check out our CFP!

www.arthropodafoundation.org/call-for-pro...

*honeybee welfare projects would also be eligible for funding, although not a priority this funding round.

Studies that compare different approaches to insect population control from a welfare perspective, or seek to produce new, higher-welfare approaches, would be relevant for our CFP! www.arthropodafoundation.org/call-for-pro...

Humanity often seeks to reduce insect populations, and most of the methods we have to do so probably cause a lot of suffering if those insects are sentient.

Here's another example of a topic that might be interesting to study from a welfare angle: how can we manage insect populations in a friendlier way?

Icon of a hand holding a heart, in white on a green background. Accompanying text reads "Member Support Fund." ESA logo appears at bottom left.

As funding and workforce disruption harms U.S. science, the ESA Member Support Fund will pay affected entomologists' membership dues, allowing beneficiaries to maintain access to ESA member benefits and stay connected to the insect science community. buff.ly/mSnq5tP

One might examine the physiological processes involved, time to death for the spotted-wing Drosophila, as well as any welfare consequences that might accrue for the wasp.

Wasp-based biological control is commonly promoted for environmental reasons. But how does biological control compare to other methods of pest insect control when examined through a welfare lens?

I'll be posting a few examples of research questions it would be cool to see proposed for our current RFP (www.arthropodafoundation.org/call-for-pro...) to help folks get a sense of our funding interests and priorities.

🤩

Do you know a scientist working with insects with an interest in welfare? Please send them our way!

We'd appreciate any effort to boost our reach so we can get lots of cool applications :)

Motivational trade-offs as evidence for sentience in bees: a critique Establishing if insects feel pain can have far-reaching consequences for insect husbandry, commercial pollination and scientific research. Research in this field therefore requires careful experiments...

A recent paper argued that bees trade off reward to avoid pain. Jenny Read and I re-analyzed their data and argue that the paper's analysis is flawed. We've written up a constructive critique of the work with some modelling and recommendations. 🧪

Read on:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Wild Insect Welfare: Mitigating Harms to the Very, Very Many. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Terrestrial arthropods like insects are among the most abundant animals on our planet. New research suggests that some of these animals, especially at the adult life stage, may be sentient. If they ca...

The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is thrilled to be hosting an online talk with Meghan Barrett called "Wild Insect Welfare: Mitigating Harms to the Very, Very Many." The talk will be Wed April 30 at 12:30pm. RSVP below. Please share!

Advertisement for Ento25 registration and abstract submission featuring people at a previous Ento conference

Join the entomological community at @unistrathclyde.bsky.social for #Ento25, with opportunities to present your research in #InsectScience 🦋

Huge discount for RES members so join today, save more when you register before the earlybird deadline: 4 July 🔽

buff.ly/gTnJkvN

@uofglasgow.bsky.social

Arthropoda Foundation - Call for Proposals Application Timeline: Expressions of Interest are due on June 15, 2025. Invitations to submit full proposals will be sent by June 30, 2025. Full proposals are due on July 31, 2025. Notifications of a...

Our first RFP is open! www.arthropodafoundation.org/call-for-pro...

Expressions of interest are due by June 15th. Applications in any area of insect welfare are welcome, but see our website for more information on our priorities. Questions welcome -- feel free to email or comment here.

LSE announces new centre to study animal sentience The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at LSE will develop new approaches to studying the feelings of other animals scientifically.

An emotional day - I can announce I'll be the first director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at the LSE, supported by a £4m grant from the Jeremy Coller Foundation. Our mission: to develop better policies, laws and ways of caring for animals. (1/2)
www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-...

Evaluating animal consciousness An emerging field shows how animal feelings can be studied scientifically

The interview follows a recent perspective in @science.org by @kristinandrews.bsky.social @birchlse.bsky.social & @jeffsebo.bsky.social who discuss what behaviors can be used as evidence of consciousness & what it means if an animal shows only some indicators.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Interested in insect ethics? @royentsoc.bsky.social has a survey out for any UK researchers that use insects in their work: www.royensoc.co.uk/news/res-wel....

#insect #welfare #ethics #entomology #UKscience #research
@insectwrs.bsky.social

Watch this space! Our first open funding opportunity will be opening for expressions of interest soon.