Are you interested in developing and using new ways of capturing, processing and understanding the behaviour of animals? This studentship will provide you with interdisciplinary training in the emerging discipline of behavioural informatics.
Changes in animal behaviours are a useful aid to detect early signs of compromised health or poor welfare. Early detection of problems allows timely intervention, mitigates adverse consequences and improves well-being. On a commercial scale, human observation of the subtle changes in behaviour that may indicate early-stage abnormal behaviour, poor welfare or health compromises is not possible.
The aim of this studentship is to develop novel methods to detect automatically such behavioural changes in pigs, using inexpensive, non-invasive and scalable technologies, such as video analytics.
The specific aims of the studentship are:
1) Develop computer-based methods for tracking the behaviour of individuals within a group, with or without additional sensors or explicit identification of individual pigs. Video detection methods will be combined with analysis of imprecise and uncertain information to deduce behaviour patterns between pigs.
2) Apply these novel methods to the early detection of health and welfare problems in pig husbandry. Which problems to focus upon will depend on the student interests.
3) Establish machine learning models that baseline normal behaviours and become further enriched over time; use advanced anomaly detection methods to identify behavioural changes occurring within a group of pigs.
4) The student will be given the opportunity to collaborate with the Sponsors to develop a pipeline to give early warning alerts to identify anomalous individuals or groups of pigs.
Specific requirements of applicants:
The successful applicant will have a minimum of an upper second class UK honours degree, or equivalent, in either computer science & mathematics or biological science, and preferably an MSc degree in the same or similar areas. Applicants with a degree related to data science or animal behaviour are particularly encouraged.
Start date: By end of year 2021
Duration: 3 years
How to apply:
All applications must be submitted online through the Queen's Direct Applications Portal: https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/user/u_login.php
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