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Cathy SAC’s New Animal Welfare Team Leader

Cathy Dwyer (opens in new window)

Dr Cathy Dwyer has been appointed Leader of SAC’s Animal Welfare research team. The group consists of some 25 staff and students researching and teaching animal welfare. The SAC team is one of the largest groups of its kind in the UK and Europe and has a well established international reputation for its high quality and relevant research.

Welcoming her appointment, Professor Geoff Simm, SAC Academic Director and Vice- Principal Research, said:

“I congratulate Cathy on her appointment. She brings to her role as the new Animal Welfare Team Leader a wealth of experience in producing high quality and relevant science, excellent communication skills and a great enthusiasm for her subject”.

After studying Physiology at the University of Bristol, Cathy did a PhD at the Royal Veterinary College, London, on ‘The effect of maternal nutrition on muscle fibre number determination in the pig and guinea pig. This work is still cited in relation to mammalian muscle development.  Cathy joined SAC in 1994 as a post-doctoral scientist on a Scottish Government funded Flexible Fund Project exploring maternal behaviour and lamb survival in sheep. In 2007 she was awarded a SAC Readership in Behavioural Development and Welfare
 
Dr Dwyer’s early work made a number of important contributions including emphasising the importance of lamb behaviour as a key determinant of survival, the potential importance of events that affect lamb development even before birth, and an understanding of the mechanisms that control maternal behaviour in sheep. More recently Cathy has been involved in animal welfare assessment of extensive farmed animals and control of painful procedures such as lamb castration. 

The SAC Animal Welfare Team has a major role in teaching on the MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour & Welfare (AAB&W). It has been run , jointly, with the University of Edinburgh for over 20 years.

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