Dr Caroline Lee: improving livestock welfare.

Dr Caroline Lee: improving livestock welfare

Based at the FD McMaster Laboratory in Armidale, NSW, Dr Caroline Lee’s research focuses on assessing affective states of livestock to improve welfare.

• 15 June 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Caroline Lee has been part of the CSIRO livestock welfare team since its establishment in 2002.

The team works to develop objective measures of welfare, to improve husbandry practices and to advance understanding of the biological components of adaptation in livestock.

Dr Lee is working to provide improvements in animal welfare for the benefit of both the livestock industries and the general public.

Her main research interest is in the assessment of affective states in livestock to improve welfare.

Her research topics include:

• using the cognitive ability of livestock to assess emotional states
• the genetic basis of welfare-related traits in sheep including temperament, cognition and learning
• pain relief strategies for painful husbandry techniques.

Background

Dr Lee has worked with CSIRO since 2002, following roles in research and research management in the Australian livestock industries. 

Dr Lee is trying to gain a greater understanding of the cognitive abilities of animals to allow the assessment of their emotive states. She has studied stress physiology and behaviour of pigs, sheep and cattle, to improve productivity and welfare.

Academic qualifications

Dr Lee was awarded a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours from The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia, in 1997.

She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy, also from The University of Sydney, in 2002. Her thesis was on the effect of environmental and social stressors on physiology and behaviour in pigs.

Achievements

Dr Lee is an adjunct senior lecturer at The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, and supervises several students in behaviour and welfare related research.

Dr Lee also:

• received a Julius Career award in 2010
• is an invited member of the sheep, cattle and horse reference groups for development of Australian standards and guidelines.
• received a CSIRO Payne Scott award in 2008
• was a finalist in 2005 in Fresh Science, a national competition that selects young scientists from across Australia to present their research to the media and the public
• received a Postdoctoral award in 2004 to work on a collaborative project with the adaptive behaviour and welfare of ruminants group at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).

Learn more about CSIRO's work in Adapted and contented livestock.