The five-year innovative and transdisciplinary research project titled, 'COwLEARNING' aims to: 

• Address challenges related to the beef and dairy supply chain in Austria, such as animal welfare deficits, climate crisis and food security.
• Establish a novel dialogue between academic and non-academic stakeholders.

The project team consists of a scientific team, including representatives from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, and five cooperation partners, one of which is FOUR PAWS.  

FOUR PAWS is the only NGO involved in the research project, representing the interests of almost two million cattle heads in Austria and providing key expertise on farm animal welfare. Through the transdisciplinary approach of the COwLEARNING project, FOUR PAWS has the opportunity to strengthen its network of different stakeholders and to actively shape the future of cattle in Austria, in an animal-friendly and sustainable way.

The COwLEARNING project started in March 2022 and is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) #ConnectingMinds programme. 

The core of the project is a series of workshops with several objectives: 

• Development of scenarios for a sustainable beef and dairy supply in Austria.
• Developing and playing a new cattle game that invites to explore the possibilities and limits of change in a playful way.
• Reflection and discussion of the project results with regard to their practical relevance.

Once a year, the project team and 30 other stakeholders meet to work together on a broad basis on how to make the beef and dairy supply in Austria animal-friendly, ecological, and socio-economically sustainable. 

_{More information regarding the current status of the project can be found here:}

_{COwLEARNING for sustainable beef and dairy supply, BOKU. [accessed 2024 Dec 13.] https://cowlearning.boku.ac.at/en/cowlearning-2/}