Rethink Priorities’ Animal Welfare (AW) Department is seeking individuals who might be interested in collaborating with us on a research project or task-specific basis, as a contractor. Submit this form by [edit] December 15 January 5, 2025  if you are interested, we will evaluate candidates should a project arise that requires your expertise or skills. We will be in touch to discuss any opportunities that may come up.

Note: This is not a formal hiring round. We are not currently hiring for any specific position.

About Rethink Priorities’ Animal Welfare work

Rethink Priorities’ AW Department is a hub and platform that advances and pioneers evidence-based and reason-driven change for animals. We are dedicated to developing breakthroughs that foster human societies’ capability to accelerate the end of factory farming and reduce the suffering of animals living in the wild.

Our core programs are the following:

• Research: We accelerate the development of evidence-based findings and insights for those working towards a better future for animals. See Rethink Priorities’ research database.
• Stakeholder engagement: We build meaningful connections to support better-informed decision-making of advocates, charitable organizations, and others improving animal welfare worldwide. For example, we organized three editions of the Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum.
• Infrastructure development: We experiment and scale up novel approaches to help the most neglected animals and strengthen the capacity of the animal welfare movement.

What We Are Looking For

We invite researchers from diverse fields and backgrounds to express their interest in collaborating with us on innovative projects related to animal welfare.

We are particularly interested in expertise spanning various disciplines. A non-exhaustive list of the types of skills and/or expertise we often require includes:

• Policy and economic analysis (in particular, but not limited to the EU, the US and the UK, Southeast Asia, China, and Latin America)
• Other social sciences, like sociology
• Agricultural sciences and aquaculture expertise
• Animal behavior and welfare science, biology, and veterinary science expertise, particularly applied to fish, crustaceans, and insects, among others
• Ecology, zoology, and conservation biology

We encourage all interested applicants to submit their expression of interest, regardless of whether their work experience or education meets the categories above.

The time commitment required for our projects (or for completing a specific segment of a project) is very variable from project to project, both on a calendar and an hourly basis.

What We Offer

Collaborating with RP provides an opportunity to contribute to impactful research that informs policy and practice in animal welfare. Researchers will benefit from:

• Access to a network of professionals and organizations in the animal welfare space
• Opportunities to publish and disseminate findings through our platforms

This is a paid opportunity.

Interested? Fill out this form!

Please submit this form if you are (or might be in the near future) interested in contracting for us. We ask questions about your availability, your expertise, examples of any relevant projects you have been involved in, and a CV.

You can submit your expression of interest by Sunday, [edit] December 15, 2024 January 5, 2025 end of day in your local time zone. We will review all submissions and reach out to potential collaborators to learn more about them and discuss opportunities further.

For any questions, please email us at: animalwelfare [at] rethinkpriorities [dot] org