Biography
I completed my BBSRC-funded PhD in 2008 on ‘Cognitive Bias as an Indicator of Emotional State in Animals’, supervised by Mike Mendl and Liz Paul in the Animal Welfare and Behaviour (AWB) research group in the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences.
Since then, I have worked on a variety of research projects (with the most recent first):
- The use of interactive electronic-books in the teaching and application of modern quantitative methods in the social science, an ESRC-funded project running until 2016.
- e-Stat project, developing statistical software for complex statistical models (ESRC), with Bill Browne;
- The efficacy of a participatory-based intervention as a means of reducing lameness, and improving other aspects of health and welfare, in working horses and donkeys in India and Pakistan (The Brooke), with Becky Whay, Joy Pritchard and Christine Reix;
- Effect of breed on the welfare and productivity of cattle and goats on small holdings in East Africa (Send a Cow), with Becky Whay;
- Developing a behavioural test to predict future tail-biting in pigs (EU Welfare Quality), with Mike Mendl and Poppy Statham;
- Identifying risk factors for tail-biting in pigs (BPEX), with David Main, Nina Taylor, Mike Mendl and Sandra Edwards;
- Sample Size, Identifiability and MCMC Efficiency in Complex Random Effect Models (ESRC): with Bill Browne.
Prior to my PhD, I read Psychology and Zoology (BSc) Joint Honours at the University of Bristol, and then spent time travelling in Australia and New Zealand, working on farms, factories, and as a Field Assistant at the Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne. Back in the UK, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Psychological Medicine Research Group at the University of Manchester, and also at the Division of Psychology at the University of Northumbria.
