Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Human-wildlife interactions
Zoo animal behaviour, conservation and welfare
Nature on prescription

Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from Scopus
20022025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Professional information

With over 30 years working within the zoo profession, as well as holding various academic appointments, I am a passionate advocate of professional/academic collaborations to gather data which can underpin evidence based practice, to achieve great animal welfare and conservation outcomes. I believe that empowering people, with the knowledge and skills, needed to implement evidence based practice is fundamental to successfully improving animal welfare and conservation. A central theme in my research, teaching and professional activities, is a keen interest in human-animal interactions; where an understanding of both is critical to enhancing the lives of both parties and ensureing a healthy planet. 

Research interests

Exploring human-animal interactions, especially with wildlife. 

Ensuring good animal welfare during interactions with humans.

Establishing positive stakeholder engagement in wildlife conservation.

Evaluating the value of zoos within communities; including Zoos on Prescription.

 

Doctoral supervisions and completions

A Doyle ‘Health and welfare of captive vultures’. UWE/Hartpury University: DoS (FT initiated Jan ’24)

G Oaten ‘Human animal interactions and particular expertise in zoos and with this species.’ UWE/Hartpury University: DoS (PT initiated Jan ’22)

R Whitefield ‘How do cross-cultural stakeholder wildlife values interlink?’ UWE/Hartpury University: DoS (PT initiated Oct ’20)

E Gibson ‘Exploring the Impact of Dairy Producers and Consumers on Dairy Herd Welfare.’ UWE/Hartpury University: DoS (FT initiated Oct ’19)

P Doodson ‘Studying the impact of ‘Meet & Greet’ human-animal interactions on zoo visitors and the wider public’. UWE/Hartpury University: DoS (PT submitted Jan ‘25)

S Blake ‘Reducing the risk factors which impact dog welfare through injury in Flyball in the UK’ UWE/Hartpury University (FT completed Oct ’24)

L Dumbell ‘Profiling the competitive participant in Olympic equestrian disciplines: past, present and future.’ UWE/Hartpury University [DPhil]: DoS (PT completed ‘22)

S Chiew ‘Zoo visitor-animal interactions: effects on both the animal in display enclosures and visitors.’ University of Melbourne (PT completed Apr ’21)

G Tabor ‘The use of objective markers and outcome measures in equine physiotherapy and rehabilitation.’ UWE/Hartpury University [DPhil] (PT completed Jun ’20)

L K Acaralp-Rehnberg ‘Human-animal interaction in the modern zoo: Live animal encounter programs and associated effects on animal welfare.  University of Melbourne (FT completed ‘19)

J Bishop ‘Effect of predictability in zoo husbandry routines on animal welfare’, University of Plymouth (FT completed Oct ‘12)

K Knight ‘The evolution of primate personality and its possible value as a welfare indicator’ University of Exeter (PT completed April ‘11)

J Rabineau ‘Welfare in zoo-housed Colobus guereza’, University of Exeter (PT completed Feb ‘10)

N Dorey ‘Experimental investigation of social learning in domestic animals and non-human primates’, University of Exeter (FT completed June ‘08)

Education/Academic qualification

Zoology, PhD, Identification & evaluation of captive environmental factors that affect the behaviour of Sulawesi crested black macaques., Trinity College, Dublin

Oct 1998Jul 2001

Award Date: 8 Apr 2002

Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare, MSc, A wild captive comparison of Sulawesi macaque behaviour: a multi-zoo approach, University of Edinburgh

Oct 1996Sept 1997

Award Date: 1 Sept 1997

Agricultural and Food Sciences: Animal Science , BSc, Female reproductive status and male social rank in a troop of zoo-housed squirrel monkeys, University of Nottingham

Oct 1992Jul 1995

Award Date: 1 Jul 1995

External positions

Trustee, The Welsh Mountain Zoo - National Zoological Society of Wales (NZSW)

Jan 2025 → …

JZAR | Managing Editor, European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

Jan 2017 → …

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