Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG)
A unique online tool designed to assess and improve the welfare and lifetime experience of animals - driving compassionate change through data.
In partnership with Surrey University, Reuben Digital transformed the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG) from a paper based research method into a modern digital platform reshaping how welfare is measured and improved across species and continents. Where previous attempts and government initiatives had struggled, we delivered a working, scalable solution that is now actively improving the lives of animals worldwide. This project was driven not just by technical expertise, but by genuine conviction. With our Managing Director, Ray Stephens, being a passionate vegan, our team approached AWAG with a commitment to building technology that supports a more compassionate world.
A Revolutionary Approach to Animal Welfare
AWAG fundamentally changes how welfare is assessed by tracking an animal’s entire lifetime experience, rather than isolated moments. The platform records data across four core parameters; physical health, behavioural and psychological wellbeing, environmental conditions and procedural experiences — and transforms this into a Cumulative Welfare Assessment Score (CWAS). Visualised over time, the CWAS reveals trends and patterns that were previously impossible to detect, enabling vets, researchers, technicians, and carers to make better informed, evidence based decisions that lead to more compassionate care.
Real World Impact and Widespread Adoption
AWAG is now used by leading organisations including Marwell Zoo, The Greyhound Board of Great Britain, and dog welfare charities across both the UK and USA. Each implementation represents hundreds or thousands of animals whose welfare is now monitored and understood with new levels of precision. The platform has supported numerous academic publications, influencing the wider field of animal welfare science and informing policy decisions at scale. Today, AWAG is in active use across dogs, cattle, horses, laboratory species, and captive wild animals, empowering professionals to deliver higher standards of care across diverse contexts.
Building for the Future
We continue to develop AWAG through Welfare Assessment Technologies, our joint venture with Dr Sarah Wolfensohn OBE, formerly Professor of Animal Welfare at Surrey University. Together we’re enhancing the platform’s usability and exploring innovations such as AI driven insights capable of predicting welfare risks, and integrations with wearable devices like dog collar fitness trackers to enable real time monitoring. AWAG’s species agnostic architecture allows it to be adapted to virtually any animal, expanding the potential for evidence based, compassionate care worldwide. Built on strong data privacy frameworks and cloud based infrastructure, the platform is designed to scale globally and support welfare organisations across the world.
Explore AWAG
AWAG in Action.
Technology in Service of Compassion
AWAG demonstrates how technology, when built with purpose, can create meaningful, lasting impact. It amplifies the work of those dedicated to improving animal lives and reflects what we believe in at Reuben Digital: purposeful collaboration, deep technical expertise, and the conviction that digital innovation should contribute to a kinder world.
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