Developing hybrid AI on wearables and video for fine-grained cattle behavioural monitoring

Background:

Do you want to help revolutionise how we understand animal behaviour and welfare? Social network data is now a powerful tool for studying both human and animal behaviour, and this studentship offers the chance to contribute to cutting-edge research in this field. At the University of Bristol, we have built the John Oldacre Centre, where advanced technology like 50+ video cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) are used to monitor and track cows in a dairy farm setting [1]. This has allowed us to study subtle changes in social behaviour, which could help us predict diseases and improve animal welfare.

Aims and objectives:

Monitoring cows in open fields presents a new challenge - video footage is not practical when they roam outdoors. Based on our experience predicting declining health with animal-worn accelerometers [2], we have now developed our own bespoke and fully programmable wearable sensor and are excited to use it for new research. In this exciting studentship, you will help develop a novel system that learns to combine video monitoring with wearable sensors (such as collar and leg devices) to better track cow behaviour in both indoor and outdoor settings.

Methods:

You will spearhead the creation of hybrid system that will use AI to automatically link video data with wearable sensors through deep learning AI-based transformer models, improving our ability to understand animal behaviour wherever they are. Concepts you will work on particularly include transfer learning of behavioral classifiers from video to accelerometry data. You will also explore how indoor and outdoor environments affect animal behaviour and how to translate the system into practice, including how to optimise camera and sensor placement to gather the best data. 

Key references:

[1] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2021.106133

[2] https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.03.234203v4

Supervisors:

This project is a collaboration between data science, machine vision, and animal science and behavioural biology experts at the University of Bristol (Prof Andrew Dowsey, Dr Neill Campbell, Dr Daniel Enriquez-Hidalgo and Dr Suzanne Held) and Rothamsted Research’s North Wyke Farm Platform (Dr Jordana Rivero-Viera; Prof Paul Harris), a large-scale grazing research platform investigating the future of sustainable livestock farming.  

Whether you have a background in computing or the mathematical sciences and are interested in machine vision and deep learning, or come from biosciences and want to develop new skills in AI, this studentship offers a tailored training package to support your development. Join us in exploring how cutting-edge technology can transform our understanding of animal behaviour and welfare! 

University of Bristol Scholarship - How to apply

You can submit an application via the University of Bristol application portal: Start your application | Study at Bristol | University of Bristol. Select the programme “Veterinary Science (PhD) (4yr)” and see the available start dates. Select ‘Sept 2025’ to begin your application.

In the funding section of the application form, please indicate “University of Bristol Scholarship”.

In the research section please enter the project title of the scholarship you are applying for along with the supervisor's name. You can upload a blank document instead of the research statement, which is not needed.

We are keen to support applicants from minority and under-represented backgrounds (based on protected characteristics) and those who have experienced other challenges or disadvantages. We encourage you to use your personal statement to ensure we can take these factors into account.

If you want to apply for more than one Bristol Veterinary School project you will need to select a different start date for your second/third application(s) - this is so the applications system can accept multiple applications. The start date can easily be amended by the university if you are made an offer

We will also be running a pre-application online workshop and Q&A session on how to prepare a PhD application on 5^th December 2024 04:00 PM GMT; if you would like to register for this workshop then please sign up here.

Candidate requirements: Standard University of Bristol eligibility rules apply. Please visit PhD Veterinary Sciences | Study at Bristol | University of Bristol for more information.

Contacts: please contact fohs-pgadmissions@bristol.ac.uk with any queries about your application. Please contact the project supervisor for project-related queries andrew.dowsey@bristol.ac.uk

The application deadline is 4pm Monday 6th January 2025.