Lucy Asher
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Lucy is a research associate in animal behaviour and quantitative epidemiology. From September 2008 she will also have a teaching role.
Biography
Lucy graduated in 2003 from Bristol University with a joint-honours BSc in Psychology and Zoology, then went on to complete an MSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Edinburgh. From 2004 to 2007 she undertook a PhD supervised by Dr Melissa Bateson at Newcastle University’s Centre for Behaviour and Evolution (CBE Website) studying the welfare of captive starlings. She joined the RVC in January 2008 in her current post.
Research
Lucy's research interests centre on an understanding of the relationship between behavioural organisation and animal welfare. She is currently working on a BBSRC Animal Welfare Initiative (BBSRC Website) which is run jointly between the RVC, Oxford and Bristol Universities. Her role in the project concerns the use of complex analyses to score the behaviour and group dynamics of domestic hens and is supervised by Professors Dirk Pfeiffer (RVC) and Christine Nicol (Bristol).
Lucy is also currently involved in a number of other projects including: the link between confromation and welfare in UK pedigree dogs; investigating quality of life indicators in kennelled dogs; quantifying stereotypic behaviour in captive European starlings; and the use of social network analysis to understand human and animal behaviour.
Teaching
From September 2008 Lucy will be lecturing part of the Statistics course to 2nd Year BVetMed students. She acts as a statistical advisor to staff and students and is a project supervisor for undergraduate and postgraduate research.
Selected Publications
ASHER, L & BATESON, M. (2008). Use and husbandry of captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in scientific research: a review of current practice. Laboratory Animals 42 (2): 111-126. doi:10.1258/la.2007.007006
MATHESON, S. M., ASHER, L. AND BATESON, M. (2008) Larger, enriched cages are associated with 'optimistic' response biases in captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 109 (2-4): 374-383. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.03.007
ASHER, L, KIRKDEN, R, & BATESON, M. (2009). An empirical investigation of two assumptions of motivation testing: does cost reduce demand and do animals have an energy budget to spend? Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 118 (2-4) 152-160. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2009.02.029
ASHER, L, DAVIES, G.T.O, COX, M & BATESON, M (2009) The effects of cage size and shape on the welfare of captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 116 (2-4): 286-294. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2008.10.008
BRILOT, B., ASHER, L. FEENDERS, G. & BATESON, M. (2009) Quantification of abnormal repetitive behaviour in captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) Behavioural Processes. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2009.07.003
ASHER, L., COLLINS, L. M., ORTIZ-PELAEZ, A., PFEIFFER, D.U. & NICOL, C.J. (2009) Recent advances in the analysis of behavioural organisation and interpretation as indicators of animal welfare. Journal of the Royal Society: Interface.
BRILOT, B., ASHER, L. & BATESON, M. (2009) Water bathing in European starlings improves flight manoeuvrability - an empirical demonstration and implications for passerine welfare in captivity. Animal Behaviour
ASHER, L. DIESEL, G. SUMMERS, J. F., MCGREEVY, P.G., COLLINS, L.M. (2009) Inherited defects in pedigree dogs I: Conforming to standards. The Veterinary Journal.