Marina (Nina) A. G. von Keyserlingk is a professor and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Chair in Animal Welfare in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. After growing up on a beef cattle ranch in central British Columbia, she completed her BSc at UBC in 1987, her MSc in animal science at the University of Alberta in 1989, and her PhD in 1995 in animal sciences at UBC. She then left academia and worked in agribusiness for 7 years before returning to academia in 2002, when she was appointed as an assistant professor in the Animal Welfare Program at UBC. She was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and achieved the highest rank of professor in 2010.
Together with her graduate students and colleagues, Nina von Keyserlingk has published over 200 refereed scientific journal publications, more than 100 of these within the last 5 years. As an indicator of her reputation, she has published 8 invited reviews in the Journal of Dairy Science, of which 5 were published in the last 5 years. She is recognized as an outstanding teacher and received the prestigious Killam Teaching Award from UBC in 2008. Her undergraduate course offerings include the popular third year course Animals and Society.
Nina gives, on average, 25 invited presentations every year. She travels in excess of 100,000 miles every year, speaking at events attended by university academics and dairy industry professionals both nationally and internationally. Nina is a frequent invited speaker at meetings attended by farmers and the public in North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia. In addition to the accepted invitations, she is forced to decline 15 to 20 invitations per year due to time constraints.
The field of animal welfare has become a topic discussed in academic circles, at industry meetings, and in the public arena. This increased awareness has led to a strong interest by the media for information on animal welfare. von Keyserlingk is frequently interviewed, quoted, and consulted for information on the topic of animal welfare. The work completed in her lab has been summarized in print publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) outlets, and in numerous online publications such as Psychology Today and Scientific American.
Other evidence of Nina’s recognition includes invitations to serve on the committees of a number of national and international organizations. She was a council member of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) for eight years, including three years on the Board as vice chair, chair, and past chair, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Beginning in 2009, Nina joined the Animal Care Committee of the Federation of Animal Science Societies (now FASS Inc.) and is currently one of the ADSA representatives on the technical writing committee revising the Ag Guide, which governs the use of agricultural animals in research. She also sits on the National Milk Producers Federation (Arlington, VA; 2011) technical writing committee as a scientific advisor to aid in review of the F.A.R.M. program, which was initially completed in 2013, reviewed again in 2015–2016, and published January 1, 2017; she has just been reappointed for the next revision. Since 2011, she has been on the Animal Welfare Advisory Council of Dean Foods Inc. (Dallas TX), the largest fluid milk processor in the United States, where she has played a key role in the development and writing of Dean Food’s Dairy Well Animal Welfare Audit, published in 2017.
In 2016, Nina was the co-recipient of the award for outstanding contributions to the field of ruminant well-being (given by the World Buiatrics Association, Dublin, Ireland). She also received the Award for Excellence in Dairy Science from ADSA in 2013 (award sponsored by Elanco Animal Health); the Metacam 20 Award (co-recipient) for outstanding contributions to the field of cattle welfare (award sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, Canada); and the Canadian Animal Industries Award in Extension and Public Service in 2012, awarded by the Canadian Society of Animal Science.