Livestock Health

Simon is a senior researcher in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and Animal and Veterinary Sciences. His main research interest lies in understadning the causes and consequences of individiual differences in social behaviour (pigs) and the response to human handling (beef cattle). Alongside colleagues, his research also addresses long-standing welfare issues by assessing the role that selective breeding can play in producing animals more suited to the environments in which they are housed.

Naomi Fox is aquantatitive ecologist in the Disease Systems Team within Animal and Veterinary Sciences at SRUC. Her main research interests include biotic and abiotic drivers of parastite transmission, approaches to modelling disease systeams and impacts of climate change on disease risk. Naomi is also an associate at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS).  

I am the Director of Communications at Moredun Research Institute and have a strong interest in science communication, knowledge exchange and education. I have also retained my involvement in research focusing on the infectious diseases of livestock and currently lead a group at Moredun, looking at developing solutions to control diseases caused by protozoan parasites.

My research interests relate to the sustainable control of helminth parasites (worms and fluke) in livestock. The diseases caused by these parasites are amongst the most important and prevalent endemic production-limiting diseases of livestock, and represent a significant constraint on efficient livestock production, both in the UK and globally. This involves research into novel diagnostics, vaccine studies and disease control strategies. I also have a specific interest in the monitoring and management of anthelmintic (wormer) resistance.

My long term interests focus on the relationship between sequence variation and protein function in relation to livestock disease.  I have studied the immune system of livestock species and genetic variation of pathogens for over 20 years and am interested in the molecular interactions between host and pathogen.

My research interests relate to the exploration and design of novel methods for controlling pests and parasites particularly through exploiting their unique physiology and their interactions with the host. I am Deputy Director at Moredun Research Institute and Theme A lead (Plant and animal disease and animal welfare).  Follow the links to find out more information about all of my research interests, activities and publications.