Published by Animal Ethics 4200 Park Blvd. #129 Oakland, CA 94602 United States of America [email protected] www.animal-ethics.org Animal Ethics is a nonprofit charity aiming at providing information and resources about issues related to the moral consideration of all sentient animals. It is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and its Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 46- 1062870. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ © Animal Ethics 2020, available as a free download. Partial reproduction with source citation is allowed. For reprints of a substantial part of this book, please contact Animal Ethics. Suggested citation: Animal Ethics (2020) Establishing a research field in natural sciences: three case studies, Oakland: Animal Ethics, retrieved from https://www.animal-ethics.org/establishing-field-natural- sciences. The research project’s team included Asher Soryl, Maria Salazar, Oscar Horta, Gary O’Brien, Max Carpendale, and Daniel Dorado. We want to express our gratitude to Animal Charity Evaluators, which funded this work through its Animal Advocacy Research Fund. We also want to express our gratitude to the informants who participated in this study: Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff, Donald Broom, Dale Jamieson, Emily Patterson-Kane, Carolyn Ristau, Stephen Wickens, and Bruce Wilcox. Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 Objectives ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Animal welfare science ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Conservation biology ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Cognitive ethology .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Lessons for establishing a new field of research ....................................................................................... 3 Conclusions................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Background .................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 The selection of the cases to study ............................................................................................................... 11 Methods and interviewees ............................................................................................................................... 14 Case study structure ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Animal welfare science ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Emergence of animal welfare science ......................................................................................................... 16 Challenges ............................................................................................................................................................... 20 The role of external agents .............................................................................................................................. 23 Conservation biology .............................................................................................................................................. 25 Emergence of conservation biology ............................................................................................................. 25 Challenges ............................................................................................................................................................... 32 The role of external agents .............................................................................................................................. 33 Cognitive ethology .................................................................................................................................................... 37 Emergence of cognitive ethology .................................................................................................................. 37 Challenges ............................................................................................................................................................... 41 The role of external agents .............................................................................................................................. 44 Lessons for establishing a new field of research ......................................................................................... 46 What scientists interested in a new field can do..................................................................................... 46 What external agents supporting a new field of research can do .................................................... 52 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................. 55 References ................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Executive summary Background Getting detailed knowledge about the problems that different causes address, including those concerning animal advocacy work, can be crucial for those causes to successfully achieve their goals. This knowledge, however, may not be available, and novel research is sometimes needed to gain it. In comparison to just doing independent research, promoting the creation of a new academic field can maximize the resources available for such research in the long term, the expected quality and quantity of the research that may end up being produced, the impact in practice and policy making that such research can have and its potential to drive a scientific and normative shift. Furthermore, this avoids the risk of the research being discredited as a result of being performed independently of academia. This study seeks to gain more knowledge about how new disciplines emerge in order to provide guidance for advocates working within newly formed cause areas which require such developments. Objectives This study aims to provide ideas about actions that both researchers inside academia and other agents outside academia can take to promote the early growth of new academic fields. It also aims to learn more about the obstacles that those attempting to create new academic fields may face, how to overcome them, and the possible mistakes that can be made in doing so. Methodology To get a better understanding of this problem, we analyzed three research fields in the life sciences which were established relatively recently and which incorporate both positive and normative analysis: animal welfare science, conservation biology, and 2 ESTABLISHING A NEW RESEARCH FIELD IN NATURAL SCIENCES cognitive ethology. We reviewed the literature considered to be the basis of early development in each field, and the literature reviewing its history. We also interviewed scholars knowledgeable of the development of each of these fields, which we identified according to their publication history, citation count, and general standing in relation to other authors in the field, as well as with their role in the development of the field, and of how well placed they are to understand it. Animal welfare science Animal welfare science was created as a result of public funding being invested in the field. What caused this was the growth of concern about the topic among the general public, especially in Europe and especially in the UK, where, in the 60s, Ruth Harrison’s book Animal machines raised awareness about the situation of animals in factory farms. There was little prior interest among veterinary scientists and other scientists in this topic, although that progressively changed as the field developed. Between the 1970s and the 1990s several relevant publications where published that helped to shape the field, and some journals were created where animal welfare researchers were able to publish their work. Scientists with different