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 , 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. He completed a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast in 2020, supervised by Dr. Gareth Arnott and Dr. Emily Bethell. His thesis focused on animal behaviour and welfare. In 2016, he was awarded a first-class degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford.
Andrew serves on the 's Coordinating Group and is an Affiliate of the .
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 has also worked on crested macaques, dogs, dairy cattle, broiler chickens, and Siamese fighting fish.
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). . 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). . Insect Welfare Research Society.
Crump, A., Gibbons, M., Barrett, M., Birch, J., & Chittka, L. (2023). . PLoS Biology, 21(6), e3002138.
Baqueiro-Espinosa, U., Lo, T. H., Hunter, R., Donnelly, P., McEvoy, V., Crump, A., & Arnott, G. (2023). . Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 262, 105904.
Crump, A., Aiken, C., Cunningham, E. M., & Arnott, G. (2023). . Animals, 13(6), 1055.
McDaid, A., Cunningham, E. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Hardiman, G. (2023). . Science of the Total Environment, 855, 158576.
Gibbons, M., Crump, A., Barrett, M., Sarlak, S., Birch, J., & Chittka, L. (2022). . 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, 32(31).
Crump, A., Browning, H., Schnell, A. K., Burn, C., & Birch, J. (2022). . Nature Food, 1-3.
McEvoy, V., Baqueiro Espinosa, U., Crump, A., & Arnott, G. (2022). . Animals, 12(21), 2895.
Crump, A. (2022). . Animal Sentience, 31(15).
Birch, J., & Crump, A. (2022). . Current Biology, 32, R1-R3.
Gibbons, M., Versace, E., Crump, A., Baran, B., & Chittka, L. (2022). . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(31), e2205821119.
Crump, A., Browning, H., Schnell, A. K., Burn, C., & Birch, J. (2022). . Animal Sentience, 7(32).
Crump, A., & Birch, J. (2022). . 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). Journal of Consciousness Studies, 29(3-4), 8-28.
Birch, J., Burn, C., Schnell, A. K., Browning, H., & Crump, A. (2021). . Department for Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs (Defra).
Crump, A., & Birch, J. (2021). . Learning & Behavior, 1-2.
Cunningham, E. M., Mundye, A., Kregting, L., Dick, J., Crump, A., Riddell, G., & Arnott, G. (2021). . Royal Society Open Science, 8, 211089.
Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Jacobs, L. (2021). . Scientific Reports, 11(1), 16966.
Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A., Arnott, G., Newberry, R. C., & Jacobs, L. (2021). . Animals, 11(8), 2383.
Crump, A., Jenkins, K., Bethell, E. J., Ferris, C. P., Kabboush, H., Weller, J., & Arnott, G. (2021). . Scientific Reports, 11, 4882.
Crump, A., Bethell, E. J., Earley, R., Lee, V. E., Mendl, M., Oldham, L., Turner, S. P., & Arnott, G. (2020). . Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287, 28720201715.
Crump, A., Mullens, C., Bethell, E. J., Cunningham, E. M., & Arnott, G. (2020). . Biology Letters, 16(4), 20200030.
Crump, A., Jenkins, K., Bethell, E. J., Ferris, C. P., & Arnott, G. (2019). . Animals, 9(11), 902.
Crump, A., Arnott, G., & Bethell, E. J. (2018). . Animals, 8(8), 136.
Andrew teaches animal behaviour, cognition, and welfare, especially for the RVC’s BSc Biological Sciences courses. He's the Deputy Module Leader of "Animals & Human Society" (3rd year Biosciences).
Andrew welcomes enquiries about supervising undergraduate and postgraduate student projects.
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.
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.
As a hired consultant, Andrew has advised industry on animal welfare issues. For instance, he wrote a major report on animal welfare in UK insect farming for the .