Dr Amanda Doughty

Adjunct Research Fellow - School of Environmental and Rural Science

Amanda Doughty

Biography

I completed my Master in Animal Studies with an RSPCA-funded project that focused on the origin and condition of horses relinquished to an Australian abattoir. My PhD investigated, and further developed, the use of motivation as a welfare measurement and adds to the body of knowledge that provides a better understanding of the mental state of animals.

The Australian sheep industry, through the CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation, has identified an opportunity to take a proactive approach to managing the wellbeing of sheep in extensive systems and my project involves assessing and reducing welfare risks of animals kept in these environments.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Science (Zoology) - Massey University, New Zealand.

Master of Animal Studies - University of Queensland.

PhD - University of New England/CSIRO. Thesis title 'Factors Influencing the motivation of sheep for food'.

Research Interests

My research interests are mainly focused on animal welfare and behaviour and, in particular, developing methodologies to scientifically assess welfare. I am very interested in assessing the welfare of livestock kept in extensive systems and the development of behavioural, physiological and cognitive measures that allow inferences about the welfare state of an individual animal in these environments to be made.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Doughty, A., Cross, N., Robins, A., Phillips, C.J.C., (2009) The origin and foot condition of horses slaughtered in Australia for the human consumption market. Equine Veterinary Journal 41 (8) 808-811 (Impact factor: 2.286, Number of citations: 3)

Refereed Conference Submissions

Doughty, A.K., Ferguson, D.M., Matthews L.R and Hinch, G.N. 2011. Using motivation to assess welfare. Are we measuring what we think we're measuring? Proceedings of the RSPCA Australian Scientific Seminar, 2011, Canberra, Australia

Doughty, A.K., Hinch, G.N., Ferguson, D.M., and Matthews L.R. 2011. Energy balance and feeding motivation in a demand test. Proceedings of the 45th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, 2011, Indianapolis, USA

Doughty, A.K., Ferguson, D.M., Matthews L.R and. Hinch, G.N. 2011. Improving the practicality of measuring feeding motivation in ruminants. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at the Farm and Group Level, Guelph, Canada

Doughty, A.K., Ferguson, D.M., Matthews L.R and Hinch, G.N. 2012. Opioid systems may influence willingness of sheep to walk for food in a motivation test. Proceedings of the Regional Meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Australasia and Africa, Melbourne, Australia

Doughty, A.K., Hinch, G.N. 2014. Automated measurement of sheep movement order: consistent, stable and useful to identify the risk of welfare compromise? Proceedings of the 48th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, 2014, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain