Research Chair in Swine Welfare - Coming Soon!

NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare

(306) 966-7151

WCVM, UofS, 52 Campus Dr., Saskatoon, SK

Research Team

Yolande Seddon, PhD, NSERC Industrial Research Chair

Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan

Jen-Yun Chou, PhD, Research Scientist, Ethology

Prairie Swine Centre Inc.

Martyna Lagoda, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow

Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan

Jennifer Brown, PhD, RETIRED Research Scientist, Ethology

Prairie Swine Centre Inc.

PhD Students

Darian Pollock, BSc
Project: Identify and validate biomarkers of welfare state in growing swine.

Karolína Steinerová, MSc
Project: Promotion of play to increase physiological and psychological robustness.

Siba Khalife, MSc
Project: Quantifying the effects of extra space, enrichment, and handling during a critical development period on welfare outcomes and stress resilience of pigs.

MSc Students

Carmen Cole, BSc
Project: Development and validation of a one-step electrocution for on-farm euthanasia of large swine.

Research Technicians/Assistants

Kyle Moak, MSc
Project: Working across several projects.

Yuanyue Wang, MSc
Project: Carcass-based indicators of welfare: Linking abattoir data to live animal measures.

Kayla Arisman, MA
Project: The relationship between animal welfare and sustainable pork production.

Abby Tillotson, BSc
Project: Working across several projects.

Previous Team Members

Postdoctoral Fellows

Giuliana Miguel-Pacheco, PhD
- Project: Carcass-based indicators of welfare: Linking abattoir data to live animal measures
Karen Mancera, PhD
- Project: Effects of sow grouping practices on reproductive performance and piglet development

PhD students

Mariia Tokareva, PhD (graduated 2021)
- Project: Motivated for movement? Exercise and the gestation environment on sow performance and welfare.

MSc students

Cristina Prade Ramos, MSc (graduated 2022)
- Project: R isk factors for sow mortality in Canadian swine herds.
Erin Davis, MSc (graduated 2021)
- Project: Practical alternatives for managing castration pain in piglets.
Jessica Vehof, MSc (graduated 2023)
- Project: Effects of sow grouping practices on reproductive performance and piglet development.
Madelena Pedersen-Macnab, MSc (graduated 2022)
- Project: The effect of environmental enrichment on the immune response and measures of disease resilience and welfare in pigs.
Samuel Ereke, MSc (graduated 2022)
- Project: Validation of infrared technologies for identification of market pigs at risk of transport stress, death loss and PSE meat.
Abby Tillotson, MSc (graduated 2024)
- Project: The effects of environmental enrichment and timing of enrichment provision on the development of damaging behaviours in swine.

Undergraduate Students

Cheng-Li (Josephine) Lee, BSc
- Project: Genetics of retroactive measures of stress response and relationship with disease resilience in nursery and grow-finish pigs.
Keara Leong-Machieles, BSc, Victoria Windrem, BSc, and Carmen Cole, BSc
- Project: Stimulating play behaviour in piglets pre-weaning: effects on transition to weaning and post-weaning social behaviour.

Research Technicians/Assistants