Siobhan Abeyesinghe
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Siobhan is currently a Research Fellow with the Centre for Animal Welfare, specialising in social behaviour, cognition, behavioural approaches to assess sensory capacities and animal welfare.
Biography
Siobhan graduated from University of Newcastle in 1994 with a degree in Animal Science and then went on to complete an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare at University of Edinburgh (1995) culminating in a research project at the Macaulay Institute on the welfare of red deer at lairage.
Following her PhD work on poultry behaviour and welfare with Professor Christine Nicol at University of Bristol and Professor Christopher Wathes, then of Silsoe Research Institute (2000) she joined Professor Wathes' research group as a postdoctoral researcher in poultry cognition and demonstrated that hens can show self-control.
In 2005 she joined the Royal Veterinary College to form the Centre for Animal Welfare with a small team of other scientists and in 2008 was appointed the RCUK Fellow in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. She is also the UFAW Link Representative at the college.
Research
Siobhan's research interests centre on an understanding of the relationships between environment, behaviour, stress 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. She is leading a project investigating the effects of artificial physical environments in which pigs and poultry are routinely kept on their social behaviour, stress and cognition. This includes fundamental investigation of their social cognition, social capacities and collaboration with experts in behavioural modelling.
Siobhan is also currently involved in a number of other projects including the following:
• Behavioural approaches to investigating avian vision in collaboration with Dr John Jarvis and Prof Christopher Wathes at RVC.
• The welfare of dogs in Great Britain: Prioritsation of Welfare issues in collaboration with Prof Christopher Wathes and Dr Sandra Corr at RVC
• Human attitudes to animals, education and animal welfare (PhD studentship- Jen Jamieson) in collaboration with Rev Prof Michael Reiss at Institute of Education, Prof Christopher Wathes and the RSPCA.
• Vision and social discrimination in domestic fowl: from perception to cognition (PhD studentship- Nick Gover) in collaboration with Dr John Jarvis and Prof Christopher Wathes at RVC.
• Quality of Life Assessment in Equids (PhD studentship- Liane Crowther) in collaboration with Dr Charlotte Burn and Prof Christopher Wathes at RVC.
Teaching
Siobhan currently teaches Animal Behaviour to the BVetMed year 1,Graduate & Transfer and Gateway courses and on the new BVetSci year 3 module in animal behaviour and welfare. Over the next few years Siobhan expects to be involved in an extention of animal welfare teaching by the Centre for Animal Welfareto other years and other courses.
In addition, she is currently supervising three PhD students and supervises a number of undergraduate projects annually.
Finally Siobhan has been working with the RVC Widening Participation Office to engage school children in animal welfare; most recently having produced an event on biology and welfare of chickens and chicken products as a food source. This was first run as part of National Science Week 2009, sponsored by RCUK but has since been run by the college a number of times very successfully.
Clinical
Siobhan is beginning to work more closely with clinicians to further application of research and research findings to clinical practice.
Selected Publications
GOVER, N., JARVIS, J. R., ABEYESINGHE, S. M. & WATHES, C. M. (2009) Stimulus luminance and the spatial acuity of domestic fowl (Gallus g. domesticus). Vision Research, 49(23), 2747-2753. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2009.08.011
ABEYESINGHE, S. M., McLEMAN, M. A., OWEN, R. C., McMAHON C. E. & WATHES, C. M. (2009). Investigating social discrimination of group members by laying hens. Behavioural Processes 81:1-13.
JARVIS, J. R., ABEYESINGHE, S. M., McMAHON C. E. & WATHES, C. M. (2009). Measuring and modelling the spatial contrast sensitivity of the domestic fowl (Gallus g. domesticus). Vision Research. 49:1448-1454
MCKEEGAN, D. E., ABEYESINGHE, S. M., MCLEMAN, M. A., LOWE, J. C., DEMMERS, T. G., WHITE, R. P., KRANEN, R. W., VAN BEMMEL, H., LANKHAAR, J. A. & WATHES, C. M. (2007) Controlled atmosphere stunning of broiler chickens. II. Effects on behaviour, physiology and meat quality in a commercial processing plant. Br Poult Sci 48: 430-442. PubMed ID 17701496
ABEYESINGHE, S. M., MCKEEGAN, D. E., MCLEMAN, M. A., LOWE, J. C., DEMMERS, T. G., WHITE, R. P., KRANEN, R. W., VAN BEMMEL, H., LANKHAAR, J. A. & WATHES, C. M. (2007) Controlled atmosphere stunning of broiler chickens. I. Effects on behaviour, physiology and meat quality in a pilot scale system at a processing plant. Br Poult Sci 48: 406-423. PubMed ID 17701494
LOWE, J., ABEYESINGHE, S.M, DEMMERS, T.G.M., WATHES, C.M. & MCKEEGAN, D.E.F. (2007). A novel telemetric logging system for recording physiological signals in unrestrained animals. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 57: 74-79.
ABEYESINGHE, S. M., NICOL, C. J., HARTNELL S.J. & WATHES, C. M., (2005). Can domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, show self-control? Animal Behaviour 70: 1-11.
MACCALUIM, J. M., ABEYESINGHE, S. M. & WATHES, C. M., (2003). A continuous choice assessment of the domestic fowl’s aversion to concurrent transport stressors. Animal Welfare 12: 95-107.
ABEYESINGHE, S. M., NICOL, C. J., WATHES, C. M. & RANDALL, J. M. (2001). Development of a raceway method to assess aversion of domestic fowl to concurrent stressors. Behav Processes 56: 175-194. PubMed ID 11738510
ABEYESINGHE, S. M., WATHES, C. M., NICOL, C. J. & RANDALL, J. M. (2001). The aversion of broiler chickens to concurrent vibrational and thermal stressors. Appl Anim Behav Sci 73: 199-215. PubMed ID 11376838
ABEYESINGHE, S. M. & GODDARD, P. J. (1998). The preferences and behaviour of farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the presence of other farmed species. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 56: 59-69.
ABEYESINGHE, S. M. , GODDARD, P. J. & COCKRAM, M. S. (1997). The behavioural and physiological responses of farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) penned adjacent to other species in simulated abattoir lairage. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 55: 163-175.