51Æ·²è

By Minnie Cooke (Final year BSc (Hons)  Agriculture with Animal Science student)

As a final-year undergraduate student studying Agriculture with Animal Science at 51Æ·²è, I jumped at the opportunity to contribute to ongoing research with my final year project.

I have been fortunate to undertake my Honours Research Project as part of broader research led by Dr Holly Vickery and Dr Laura Palczynski from Harper Adams and supported by Dr Issy Lewis.

Their work – which it has been great to contribute to - explores industry professionals' perspectives on A Good Life for Pigs and is a collaboration between the University’s Animal Behaviour and Welfare and Engaging for Change research groups.  

Often, final-year projects are standalone efforts, rarely integrated into current research frameworks.

I was thrilled to work within a larger research team to advance meaningful goals. It certainly doesn’t hurt my career prospects to have my name associated with such an impactful and relevant project!

My background in technology—including coding experience in high school and working with agricultural software distribution during my placement year—inspired me to merge my interests in agriculture and tech.

Through this project, I was able to focus on the adoption of precision farming technologies in the pig industry. My research specifically examines how precision farming technologies can enhance pig welfare, captured in my project title: Stakeholder Perspectives on Precision Livestock Farming Technologies: Advancing Pig Welfare and Promoting A 'Good Life' on Farms.

Our workshop, Farming Futures: A Good Life for Pigs took place on January 10.

Unlike typical undergraduate research, which often revolves around trials or questionnaires, this project offered the unique opportunity to engage in participatory research involving a range of industry stakeholders. Organising and participating in such an event was both challenging and rewarding. I gained first-hand insight into the complexities of event planning and contributed to strategic discussions.

As someone with a strong tech focus, my role focused on the technology segment of the workshop.

Organising this session involved discussing existing commercial technologies, ongoing research, and emerging innovations. Collaborating with the researchers on these topics was an exciting contrast to the more general agricultural discussions I’m accustomed to having with my course peers.

On the day, we had an amazing mix of people from across the industry attend, which made for interesting discussions! We were also able to tour the Future Farm at Harper  - thank you to Kate Robinson for showing us around - to discuss how technology is used in the dairy industry to improve welfare, and how this might apply to the pig industry.

Overall, conducting my project within the framework of a wider research initiative has been an unparalleled learning experience. I’ve gained invaluable insights into collaborative research and feel deeply passionate about the work we are doing. I’m looking forward to sharing our findings later this year and continuing to explore how technology can shape the future of pig welfare in agriculture.

Thank you to 51Æ·²è research office for providing funding for the workshop through their Quality Research scheme.

Photo from Left to right: Dr Issy Lewis (Hartpury University), Dr Holly Vickery, Dr Laura Palczynski, Minnie Cooke and Mr Alan Stewart (51Æ·²è).

Poster created by Minnie that was used as a discussion point in the workshop.