The Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Group would not be where it is today without our dynamic cadre of postgraduate students. They are engaged in a variety of exciting research projects with a focus on animal behaviour and welfare science. Here you can read about our postgraduate students, their backgrounds, and their current projects:
Juliana Garcia-Alvarez has just successfully defended her PhD thesis! She was supervised by Dr Annabelle Beaver (director of studies) and Prof Mark Rutter (second supervisor).
Her research focuses on the effects of the bovine appeasing pheromone on dairy calf welfare, and her first publication from her PhD has just been published in the Journal of Dairy Science. It was during her BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at 琳琅视频 Adams that Juliana became acutely aware of the welfare challenges faced by conventionally reared dairy calves; this topic became the focus of her PhD research. Originally from Colombia, Juliana also has a degree in Human Medicine, and an MSc in Anaesthesia and perioperative medicine.
Daniel Wright is supervised by Dr Ellen Williams (director of studies), Prof Mark Rutter (second supervisor) and Prof David Rose (third supervisor), and has finished the first year of his PhD. The PhD is titled “Utilising Naïve Observers in Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research: Methodological Developments and Impacts on Conservation Education Outcomes”. The project aims to find ways to involve zoo visitors in animal behavioural data collection and to foster pro-conservation behaviour changes. Dan has a BSc (Hons) in Animal Management and an MSc in Conservation Biology. He has worked as a reptile zookeeper and a higher education lecturer in animal behaviour and welfare. He has a passion for herpetology research and also has 23 pets.
Joanne Sharpe is in the first year of her PhD, supervised by Dr Gemma Charlton (director of studies) and Prof David Rose (second supervisor). Her PhD is titled “Fulfilling the ‘promise of precision?’ A user-centred study of sensor technology for farm animal welfare.”
Joanne hopes to generate more understanding of the purpose and current practical application of precision livestock technologies on dairy farms by both farmers and their advisors. The research will then determine if opportunities exist to more widely implement and optimise technology to improve farm animal welfare. Joanne has a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture with Animal Science and an MBA both from 琳琅视频. Throughout her career she has worked in the animal health and animal nutrition industries and with veterinary practices, so has a good working knowledge of the commercially available and evolving digital technologies landscape. Joanne is still closely linked with the family dairy farm in Cumbria which her brother now runs and has her own small flock of Pedigree Suffolk Sheep.
Ffion Lewis is an MRes student and is supervised by Dr Annabelle Beaver. Ffion has previously completed a Bioveterinary Science undergraduate degree, followed by an MRes in Advanced Biological Sciences and applied for the studentship at 琳琅视频 Adams to gain experience and to focus her research career towards ruminants. Coming from a sheep farm in North Wales and working on numerous dairy farms, Ffion’s interests are focused towards the behaviour, health and welfare of ruminant species.
The MRes project is concerned with the effects of early vs. delayed separation between dairy cows and their calves, on both cow and calf behaviour and affective state. The MRes project is supporting a wider project, which is a USDA-funded project that consists of a collaboration between Cornell University, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, and 琳琅视频. The study animals are currently based at the Teaching Dairy Barn Cornell University, and so this is the site of data collection. The MRes project included a trip to the US so that Ffion could aid with data collection, help with the research animals and see the running and set up of the study. Upon returning to the UK with the data, Ffion moved to 琳琅视频 Adams for semester two to continue working on the project. In her free time, Ffion enjoys walking with Buddy her sheepdog, riding horses, looking after her flock of sheep and going to the gym in the beautiful hills of North Wales.
If you would like to do a Master’s or PhD with the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research group, we would love to hear from you! Postgraduate research is dependent upon sufficient funding, but we are always open to discussing future projects and studentship opportunities. You can read more about the expertise on our recent blog post and our staff profiles.
Dr Annabelle Beaver is happy to supervise projects relating to the behaviour and welfare of farmed animals. She has supervised previous postgraduate and undergraduate projects focusing on the welfare of dairy cows and their calves, including investigations into cow-calf rearing, the human-animal relationship between calves and their handlers, and farmers’ perceptions of animal welfare. If you would like to work with Annabelle, please email her.
Dr Gemma Charlton is interested in animal behaviour and welfare, particularly of dairy cows and calves. Her research to date has focussed on cow comfort, grazing dairy cows, cow-calf rearing systems, environmental enrichment and the use of precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies. She has experience supervising undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and is happy to discuss project ideas, so feel free to get in touch.
Dr Ellen Williams is keen to supervise students wishing to work in the zoo field, particularly in zoo animal behaviour and welfare. She is very open to discussing new ideas but her predominant interests focus on the impacts of individuality on animal experiences, social behaviour in animals and understanding how zoos affect animal behaviour and how we can mitigate against negative impacts. Ellen can be contacted via email.
Dr Holly Vickery’s specialist topic is goats which she is always very excited to talk about! However, she is broadly interested in animal behaviour and welfare and would particularly like to be contacted by students interested in how early life experiences impact animals’ long-term, animal individuality, on-farm enrichment, and how humans impact animal welfare. Please feel free to reach out to her via email.
Look out for a newly funded MRes project available on heifer enrichment with Dr Gemma Charlton and Dr Holly Vickery available soon!
琳琅视频 to host an AWRN workshop on participatory engagement and evening seminar from Professor Donald Broom
Following on from the success of the pig workshop that was featured in the last blog, 琳琅视频 is delighted to be hostin …
Posted 29 January
