I was appointed Lecturer in Welfare Physiology at the University of Glasgow in November 2019.

I previously worked as Senior Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Cumbria (2016-19), Quantitative Animal Scientist at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC; 2012-16) and National Research Foundation Freestanding Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand (2010-12).

I am an active mentor for PhD students in my roles as a Postgraduate Research Convenor for SBOHVM and lead for the British Society of Animal Science’s postgraduate statistics workshop since 2013.

My research investigates how animals cope with the stresses associated with environmental change. From an applied perspective, my work aims to help farming adapt to climate change by improving our understanding of animals’ responses to weather-related stressors. This has implications for welfare, productivity, feed efficiency and sustainability. 

I also carry out fundamental research on how alternative life history strategies can help animals cope with environmental change, particularly in socially-flexible species. I hold a Visiting Researcher position at the University of the Witwatersrand to investigate hormonal and energetic aspects of sociality in free-living rodents. In addition, I am investigating variation in behavioural plasticity in response to the thermal environment, and the extent to which this might help species deal with the challenges of climate change and urbanisation. 

Current themes include

• Effects of weather and the social environment on productivity, behaviour and disease in dairy cows
• Resource allocation strategies in dairy cows
• Effects of climate and urbanisation on life history strategies in bats, dormice and hedgehogs
• Alternative Reproductive Tactics in rodents
• Sex differences in parental care

Research groups

• Ecology & Environmental Change
• Physiology, Ageing & Welfare
• Evolution & Diversity

List by: Type | Date

Supervision areas

I welcome enquiries from potential research students and postdoctoral scientists with ideas relating to behavioural and physiological responses to environmental change; stress physiology; thermal biology and life history strategies with a view to preparing funding applications. Current or recent study systems include dairy cows and free-living rodents, bats and hedgehogs.

If you would like to study for a PhD in my group, please get in touch outlining a) your proposed research questions, b) why you would like to join this group in particular and c) how you intend to fund your studies. In the UK, PGR students need funding to cover fees, research costs and living costs. This scholarship-finding tool may be helpful. Funding schemes include NERC CASE studentships and Commonwealth Scholarships. Information on applying for PGR (postgraduate research) at the University of Glasgow can be found here. 

I am currently advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship based at the University of Glagsow entitled Biomarkers and in vitro assessment of Johne’s disease of cattle. 

Supervisory team: Dr Davina Hill, University of Glasgow; Dr Robert Graham, Queen's University Belfast; Prof Ciaren Graham, QUB; Prof Irene Grant, QUB; Dr Lorenzo Viora, UoG 

Background: Johne’s disease (JD), a chronic bacterial disease of the intestines, has considerable health and welfare impacts. This fully-funded NorthWest Bio Doctoral Training Programme PhD, based at the University of Glasgow, aims to i) develop biomarkers to diagnose JD, ii) investigate biological causes of infection at a cellular level using tissue culture and iii) monitor welfare to improve on-farm care of infected cattle. The successful candidate will gain skills in advanced proteomics, in vitro tissue culture, phage-based diagnostics, diagnostic test development and critical assessment, and animal welfare assessment. The project will also introduce concepts of novel technology transfer to stakeholders and end-users.  

Deadline: Monday 6^th January 2025 

For further information or to apply: NWB (gla.ac.uk)

Current research students

• Hodnik, Jaka Jakob
  Effects of temperature, humidity, light levels and air pollution on production output and disease incidence in dairy cows
• Crawford, Katie (external; primary supervisor: Julia Nowack)
  Can behavioural and physiological plasticity help animals to survive in a changing environment?
• Wright, Melissa (external; primary supervisor: Richard Mort)
  Exploring the genetics of pigmentation in dairy cattle to build resilience to climate-change-induced heat stress 

• Almulla, Alya Abdalla Sultan Mohamed
  Assessing the effects of climate change on an invasive species, the edible dormouse
• Cook, John
  Management factors associated with transition success in dairy cows

Completed research students

• Findlay-Robinson, Rachel (PhD 2018-21, lead supervisor)
  Climatic effects on life history in the hazel dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius.

Rachel was co-supervised by Dr Volker Deecke (University of Cumbria) and Dr Andrew Weatherall (RSPB). Rachel is now a Teaching Fellow at the University of Glasgow.

As of December 2024, I have also supervised 1 PhD exchange student, 1 MRes student, 10 MSc students, 2 postgraduate Honours students (South Africa) and 25 BSc Honours students to completion. 

In addition to PGR, I usually supervise three MSc projects in Animal Welfare Science and two BSc Honours projects per year.

I am deputy programme lead for MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law and co-ordinate its course:

• BIOL5422 Assessment of Animal Wellbeing

For the same programme I also contribute to 

• BOL5115 Animal Welfare Science
• BIOL5126 Key Research Skills
• BIOL5134P Research project
• BIOL5423 Animal Ethics and Law
• BIOL5333 Care and Enrichment of Animals in a Captive Environment

My undergraduate teaching includes:

Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery

• Digestion (Year 1) 

BSc Veterinary Bioscience

• VETSCI1006 Digestive Physiology and Metabolism (Year 1)

I created and lead the annual British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) R and Statistics Workshop (2013 to present), a residential course aimed at PhD students and professional scientists.

In 2019-2023 I was External Examiner at the University of Derby for

• BSc Zoology (Hons)
• BSc Biology (Hons)
• Certificate of Credit in Tropical Marine Biology.

Editorial boards

• 2022: Journal of Thermal Biology

Professional & learned societies

• 2006: Member, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
• 2013: Member; R and Statistics Workshop lead, British Society of Animal Science
• 2016: Member, British Ecological Society
• 2016: Member, Animal Welfare Research Network
• 2017: Member, Royal Society of Biology
• 2017: Fellow, Higher Education Academy / Advance HE
• 2018: Certified Animal Scientist; Panel member for personal accreditation, British Society of Animal Science
• 2018: Member, International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Selected international presentations

• 2018: UK-Israel conference on Climate Change and Food Systems (organised by the British Council and the UK Science and Innovation Network), invited speaker and panel chair (Tel Aviv, Israel)
• 2018: 17th Biennial Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology (contributed talk and invited moderator for Social Behavior) (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)

Supplementary

• I created and lead the annual British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) R and Statistics Postgraduate Workshop (2013 to present). Grant reviewer for BBSRC, South Africa’s National Research Foundation and National Geographic. External Examiner for BSc Zoology (Hons), BSc Biology (Hons) and Certificate of Credit in Tropical Marine Biology, University of Derby, UK (2019-2023). Manuscript referee for various international journals, including American Naturalist, Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal of Dairy Science, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: B, Biological Sciences and Royal Society Open Science. External examiner for two MSc. by research dissertations, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (2019). Accreditation Panel Member for the British Society of Animal Science and Royal Society of Biology Register of Accredited Scientists and Technologists (2018-).