ian duncan Ian Duncan
Ian Duncan was born and educated in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He graduated B.Sc. in Agriculture with Honours in Animal Husbandry from Edinburgh University and went on to study for his Ph.D. at the Poultry Research Centre (PRC), Edinburgh (now the Roslin Institute, home of Dolly the sheep) with a topic of frustration and conflict in the domestic fowl.  He was thus one of the first people to bring a scientific approach to solving animal welfare problems.  He continued to work at the PRC on welfare topics in poultry for 20 years until he emigrated to Canada in 1989.  He is Professor of Applied Ethology in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Guelph and also holds the oldest University Chair in Animal Welfare in North America.  In his research, he is developing methods of “asking” farm animals what they feel about the conditions in which they are kept and the procedures to which they are subjected.  He has published more than 150 scientific papers most of which are connected to animal welfare.  Ian is also heavily involved in teaching, and his third-year undergraduate course on farm animal welfare currently has more than 180 students enrolled.
 
Students
laura dixon

Laura Dixon
Laura grew up on Cape Breton Island, N.S. among a menagerie of animals.  This inspired her to attend and graduate from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College with a BSc.(hon) in Animal Science.  Her undergrad research includes investigating colour vision in horses, use of different training methods in horses and co-grazing sheep and beef cattle as a method of predator control.
She was then accepted as a MSc. student of Dr. Duncan and a year later upgraded to the PhD program.  Laura's present research is investigating the causal factors of feather pecking and closely examining the motor patterns associated with severe and gentle feather pecks.
uta von borstel

 Uta von Borstel
Uta grew up and worked on dairy and horse breeding farms in Northern Germany and Iceland before her interest in natural sciences led her to pursue studies in agricultural sciences at the Universities of Guelph and Halle (Germany). She investigated for her BSc (hons.) the effect of handling on semen quality in stallions, and for her MSc in quantitative genetics, outliers in dairy cow test day records. Beside her studies, she worked part-time in the Hannoverian Horse Breeding Association, in a large animal clinic, on several projects as research assistant, and, of course, with her passion, the training of young riding and racing horses. Presently, Uta is co-supervised for her PhD by Dr. Suzanne Millman and Dr. Linda Keeling from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She investigates the unconscious communication of fear between horses and riders and hopes that her work will help to reduce the number of accidents happening with horses.
trish kirby Trish Kirby
Trish grew up in the small town of Carleton Place in Eastern Ontario.She first became interested in animal welfare while working in a mixed animal veterinary clinic during high school. In April 2006 she completed a B.Sc. Honours in Animal Biology at the University of Guelph. While attending school, Trish worked with a wide range of animals in various settings including the OVC, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Guelph (Central Animal Facility, and the Departments of Animal and Poultry Science, Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences). She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Applied Ethology co-supervised by Dr. Ian Duncan and Dr. Jim Atkinson. Trish travels to the Metro Toronto Zoo where she studies the effects of guide dogs on zoo animal behaviour.
stephanie yue

Stephanie Yue
Stephanie was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in a house full of different sorts of pets.  Her love of animals impelled her to study for a Bachelor of Science in Animal Behaviour at the University of Toronto. Her senior project was examining the aggressive behaviour of Great Black-Backed and Herring gulls on the shores of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. After discovering the joys of research, she went on to pursue a Master’s in applied ethology with Ian Duncan.  Her thesis investigated frustrated nesting behaviour and its relation to extra-cuticular eggshell calcium and bone strength in White Leghorn hens.  Stephanie is now working on her Ph.D. under the guidance of Ian Duncan and Richard Moccia, where she is investigating fear in rainbow trout in hopes of getting a better understanding of the level of sentience in this type of intensively farmed fish. 
iduncan @ uoguelph.ca | 519-824-4120, ext. 53652
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