Yes, we are open to participating in external events and conferences and would love to share more about our research. Our availability depends on our capacity at the time. If you’d like to submit a request, please email research@cats.org.uk with key details such as the proposed date, times, location, and the topic you’d like us to discuss. 

Please find our published papers here.

Please contact us at research@cats.org.uk, outlining what project you are interested in.

Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to support any undergraduate, college, or school project requests. This includes any requests to complete a survey, interview, source information, or access to our social media channels. We also cannot provide funding, sponsorship, research placements, or the supervision of projects. 
If you're a postgraduate student, please email research@cats.org.uk. We'll review each request to determine whether we take it forward to the appraisal stage. See ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?' below for more information.  

If you believe your proposal meets our key research priorities, please email details of your request to research@cats.org.uk. We'll review your proposal and determine whether we can take it forward to the appraisal process. See ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?’ section below for more information. 

All research would require appraisal to ensure that any research projects the charity becomes involved with are needed to fill important welfare knowledge gaps, are ethically sound, of high scientific rigour, and protect cats, people and the charity. Unfortunately, poorly designed studies, misinterpretation of data, invalid conclusions and/or their miscommunication all risk compromising the welfare of cats now or in the future, as well as taking up resource which could be targeted in other ways to help cats.  
If you believe your research project meets our key research priorities and you have submitted the proposal to research@cats.org.uk, we'll first assess your proposal to determine whether we are able to progress it to the appraisal stage. If, following this initial assessment, we determine that we can progress to appraisal, we'll send you a link to complete our application form. Once you have completed and returned this form, we’ll review the application and inform you of our decision. 

Central, cross-organisation appraisal of a study proposal (internal or external) can take two months or longer and involves consideration of the following:

• alignment with Cats Protection feline welfare research priorities and the charity planning
• existing evidence, methods and resources
• ethical and scientific review to ensure the justified, legal and safe involvement of both animal and human participants. This protects cat and human welfare, and maximises the quality and benefit of the research
• adherence to Cats Protection policies and procedures
• resources: cost, time, operational burden and sustainability
• risk/benefit analysis including consideration, of both study methods and the potential implication/implementation of findings, from the perspective of humans, cats, resources, Cats Protection, and supporters 

While it’s always great to hear of interest in feline welfare research, we must ensure that any projects the charity becomes involved with are (1) needed to fill important welfare knowledge gaps and are suitably aligned to our current research priorities, and (2) are ethically sound, of high scientific rigour and protect cats, people and the charity. Cats Protection would never undertake or be involved in research that could compromise the welfare of cats. To do this we need to thoroughly consider a range of factors including existing knowledge, study methods and the potential implication/implementation and communication of any findings from the perspective of cats, people, and resources. As a small team with limited resources, we’re unable to invest in the appraisal of requests that are not aligned with our immediate feline welfare research priorities.  

If the request is in relation to an undergraduate, college or school project, please see the ‘Can Cats Protection support students with their projects?’ question above. For any postgraduate studies, all requests for Cats Protection employees and volunteers to undertake or be involved in scientific feline welfare research must be sent to research@cats.org.uk  

If the request is in relation to an undergraduate, college or school project, please see the ‘Can Cats Protection support students with their projects?’ question above. For any postgraduate studies or non-student studies, all requests for Cats Protection employees and volunteers to undertake or be involved in scientific feline welfare research must be sent to research@cats.org.uk

As we frequently receive requests to complete surveys, we often do not have the capacity to support. The request needs to go through our appraisal process (see ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?’ for more information). This process takes time and it often means we cannot meet the deadlines for completing surveys.  

Any research the charity becomes involved in, including requests for letters of support for funding, must first undergo our appraisal process (see ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?’). As a small team with limited resources, we're unable to review proposals that do not align with our immediate feline welfare research priorities. For undergraduate, college, or school projects, please refer to the ‘Why can’t Cats Protection provide support to my project request?’ question above. For all other studies, please contact research@cats.org.uk  

We usually cannot facilitate requests for collaborations, funding, or sponsorship. However, if you believe your proposal meets our key research priorities, please email details of your request to research@cats.org.uk 

Unfortunately, we have limited capacity to accept external requests. However, if your project meets our key research priorities, feel free to email a summary of your research proposal and expected collaboration from our team to research@cats.org.uk  

Requests for access to our data are generally not something we can facilitate. Possible exceptions are for projects that we have prioritised and appraised (see ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?’ for more information on our appraisal process). There is publicly available information on our website, including our policies and rehoming/neutering figures. 

As we receive frequent requests for access to our social media, we can’t allow access to our social media channels to promote external research projects. Any research we support via social media would require full appraisal. See ‘What is the Cats Protection appraisal process?’.