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Introducing the staff behind the Animal Behaviour & Welfare Research Group

The Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Group sits within the Animal Science Research Centre at Harper Adams. We aim to carry out a suite of research which advances animal behaviour and welfare science.

We have a number of really fabulous staff working within this group - so I asked them to tell me a little bit about themselves, the current projects they are working on and an interesting animal fact! Because there are so many of us doing such a range of cool things this is a bumper edition – I’d recommend the best way to read this blog is with a cuppa and a biscuit!

The big line up!

First up we have our research group lead, Professor Mark Rutter.

Mark is an applied ethologist with a particular interest in the automatic recording of ruminant behaviour. His expertise in behaviour monitoring is now being used to help companies develop Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies to improve production efficiency, animal health and welfare on commercial farms. He also has an interest in animal preferences, ranging from diet preferences to cow preferences for comfortable lying spaces. Mark’s first degree was in Agricultural Science, and he then completed a Masters in Biological Computation. He completed his PhD on assessing aversion in poultry. He is a past president of the International Society for Applied Ethology. As Mark approaches retirement he is now part-time, and when not working can be found walking in his ancestors' footsteps across the fields and moors of the Yorkshire Dales.

Fun fact? Mark really hates coming up with fun facts :O

Our Deputy Research Group leader is Dr Gemma Charlton.

Gemma is an animal behaviour and welfare scientist, specialising in dairy cows and calves. After completing a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and an MSc in Animal Biology and Welfare, she then went on to study for her PhD, focussing on ‘the welfare implications of grazing high-yielding dairy cows’, followed by two post-doctoral positions. Her passion for understanding animal welfare in dairy farming drives her commitment to contribute to research and the practical improvement of dairy farming practices. With a growing team of three PhD students, her work revolves around the latest innovations and pressing issues in the dairy industry, particularly in Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), grazing systems, and cow-calf rearing.

Not a fact, but here goes... what do you call a world-famous cow? Legen-dairy! :p

Dr Annabelle Beaver is an interdisciplinary animal welfare scientist with a particular interest in dairy cows and calves. She joined Harper Adams in January 2020, after serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Canada. (The move to the UK came just in time, before the world locked down!). Annabelle has a Master's in Animal Behavior and Conservation and a PhD in Animal Science. Along the way she also gained a Fulbright Scholarship in Mathematical Modelling in the Netherlands.

Annabelle’s doctoral research focused on the transmission dynamics of paratuberculosis in dairy cows. Her current research has ventured more into the spheres of behaviour and affective states, examining how housing and management decisions impact cow and calf welfare. She currently supervises a final-year PhD student studying the welfare benefits of bovine appeasing pheromone in dairy calves from birth through weaning. As co-project director of a multi-institutional project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, Annabelle is also investigating how prolonged-cow calf contact may offer benefits for cow and calf behaviour and affective state. She recently appointed an MRes student on this project. Along side this, Annabelle also serves as an advisory editor for the Animal Welfare book series (Springer).

Fun fact: Annabelle used to be a Shakespearean actor, but that is a story for another time!

Professor David Rose is the Elizabeth Creak Chair of Sustainable Agricultural Change. A Rural Geographer, he leads the social science ‘Engaging for Change’ group at HAU. He works with the ABaW group on social science aspects of projects, including adoption of technology, human behaviour change, and responsible innovation.

Dr Holly Vickery joined Harper as maternity cover in September 2023 but is now very pleased to be staying with us a permanent member of staff! Holly is an Animal Behaviour and Welfare scientist with a particular interest in how humans impact welfare, and how findings can be practically applied in real-world scenarios.  She has a BSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and a PhD in goat kid behaviour! Her PhD research was all about how goat kids were reared, and yes, whilst that sounds completely adorable, it turns out trying to do science with naughty young goats is often less fun than it sounds! And it does mean you may also end up with three pet goats that ‘accidentally’ stayed after your research finished.... (oops!)

Holly is just settling into the department but is excited to be getting involved with the Companion Animal House research, and a long-term project about how animals are used in education. Of course, she’s trying very hard to bring some goat research to Harper and is also working on projects about individuality/personality in various species.

Her favourite fact is of course, goat related – did you know that research has found that goats are sensitive to human emotional cues and show a preference for happy faces?

Jennifer Sadler is a Lecturer in Animal Science. Jennifer is a Harper Adams alumna, having undertaken a BSc in Bioveterinary Science (a course now known as Veterinary Bioscience). She has a particular interest in companion animals and has worked within a number of educational animal collections, including our very own Companion Animal House. With a further interest in exploring the dynamic role of human-animal interactions in a variety of contexts, Jennifer went on to complete an MA in Anthrozoology. Jennifer’s current research aims to aid the development of evidence-based husbandry and management practices, focusing on practical applications that optimise companion animal welfare. She is currently working alongside Ellen and Holly on the animals in education project.

Kat Hart joined the Animal Heath, Behaviour and Welfare department at Harper seven years ago and is currently in teaching across the veterinary sciences curriculum. Kat qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse from Harper in 2013 and later went on to complete a Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing in 2017 and a Masters Degree in Advanced Veterinary Nursing in January 2024. She is also a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In October 2024, Kat began studying for a part-time PhD at Harper titled An investigation into the impact of canine obesity on health and welfare and the efficacy of one-to-one and group weight management programmes. This exciting project will be the focus of her research for the next few years.

Kat has a very enthusiastic Shetland Sheepdog named Drake (pictured below) who is involved in teaching at Harper. This leads onto an interesting fact about this breed. Multiple different breeds are involved in the sheltie's ancestry including the Spitz, Rough Collie, Pomeranian and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel!

Dr Laura Palczynski started in September 2024 as a PDRA working with Professor David Rose helping to coordinate the new ‘Engaging for Change’ group, including supporting the ABaW with human stakeholder engagement. Laura has a BSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and a PhD from here at Harper Adams, her interests now are very much focused on two-way knowledge exchange to improve links between science and practice. Laura established and chairs the Calf Action Network – ‘a mixed group of calf enthusiasts’ to help address key issues highlighted in her PhD research: providing an independent space for knowledge exchange and farmer engagement, focusing on applied research, training and qualifications. She also sits on the Animal Welfare Research Network (AWRN) Coordinating Group working to facilitate interaction and collaboration between industry stakeholders and academics.

It’s difficult to trade in facts when juggling different perspectives, so instead, here’s one of Laura’s favourite phrases – you don’t know what you don’t know, and there’s no such thing as a stupid question!

Laura Pannewitz joined Harper in January 2024 as an equine lecturer within the Animal Health, Behaviour and Welfare department.  Laura has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, and a Masters in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare.  Her main interest areas are animal learning and training (particularly co-operative care); welfare within husbandry practices, in particular welfare implications to training methods and management systems; affective state and human-animal interactions.  Laura is keen to develop an equine research strand to the ABaW Group and continue research within the field of equine affective state as a follow on from her MSc research into frustration in horses.  Laura also works as an animal behaviour consultant and is on the Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians (FABC) Welfare Subcommittee.

Interesting fact, horses can vary in the number of vertebrae they have in their spinal column, this can alter the number of ribs they have too.

This is Laura with one of our resident Harper Horses ’Silver’.

Dr Malgorzata Behnke joined Harper in 2007 after completing a BVScm,y followed by a PhD looking at the roles of behaviour and contact networks on the spread of infectious disease in dairy cattle. Coming from a primarily health focused degree, this research peaked Maz’s interest in behaviour as an approach to fully understanding how to prevent disease. Maz’s research interests have gone on to focus around Preventative Veterinary Health in ruminant and equine species, particularly around how behaviours of both animals and animal keepers and management practices impact risks of disease. Research studies have also sought to understand reasonings and motivations around chosen management practices that affect animal health and welfare. A more recent direction of interest has centred on exploring the provision of animal welfare awareness within education, particularly in primary education.

In her spare time, Maz is the proud owner of a small flock of rare breed sheep who have proved to be fantastic teachers in the understanding of animal behaviour.

Fun facts about sheep: sheep are far more intelligent than most humans give them credit for. Not only can they recognise at least 50 individual faces, they also show preference for human faces that are smiling rather than frowning, are capable of experiencing a wide range of emotions, such as anger, happiness and boredom and scientific studies have shown that sheep can be pessimists and optimists!

And last up for permanent staff is me, Dr Ellen Williams. I am an applied behaviour and welfare scientist and I specialise in zoo animals. I have a number of collaborators within the zoo industry and am currently a co-opt member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and an Official Advisor for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). I joined ÎÞÂ붯»­ in January 2021… which meant I did a day at work and then went home until Easter! Thankfully it’s been slightly plainer sailing since then!

My PhD was on social behaviour in zoo housed elephants. The aim of my work was to try to understand the impact that zoos may be having on elephant behaviour, and how different individual and environmental factors affect their social behaviour. Since then I have worked on a range of things including human-animal interactions, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioural and physiological parameters, social behaviour studies and animal personality work. I am currently supervising a PhD student who is looking at ways in which we can use citizen science in zoos.

Of course my favourite fact has to be elephant-related: did you know, elephants have more than ten thousand muscles in their trunks?

Fact #2 (that I found out just a few days ago!) is that a man called Hannibal walked over the Alps with a herd of elephants… so I need to brush up on my history knowledge!

You can read more about our work on our website, but as always, if you want to chat research, we’d love to hear from you!

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this blog!

Ellen