Michelle Reeves

Masters Programme Co-ordinator (Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare)

Biography

Background

After my Bachelor's in wildlife biology in Canada, I moved to Edinburgh to complete a Master's degree in animal behaviour and welfare. I wrote my dissertation on the links between neonatal survival of Scottish Blackface lambs and their dam's maternal behaviour. I worked as a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Warwick, studying lameness-causing conditions in sheep and developing an app for farmers to record incidences of lameness. I then worked with Holstein Canada and the Hatching Egg Producers of Quebec in Canada, before returning to Edinburgh to complete my PhD from 2020 to 2024. My thesis explored useful welfare indicators in sheep that could be monitored by technology for a Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) approach to improving sheep welfare in extensive systems. I am now the Programme Coordinator for the MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare. 

Qualifications

BSc Environmental Biology, Wildlife Biology Specialisation, McGill University (2013)

MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare, University of Edinburgh (2015)

PhD Animal Behaviour and Welfare: "Development and validation of animal-based welfare indicators for a Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) approach to small ruminant welfare management", University of Edinburgh/SRUC (2024)

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