Your enquiry has been successfully sent
Your enquiry could not be processed. Please contact us directly at www.csiro.au/Contact to make your enquiry
Biography
Having always wanted to work with animals, I completed a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Sydney in 2015. Through this degree I developed a passion for livestock research and was fortunate to complete my Honours project with the welfare team at CSIRO in Armidale.
Hooked on research, I then completed my PhD with the CSIRO, University of New England and Sheep CRC in 2019. Supported by an incredible team of supervisors; Caroline Lee, Geoff Hinch, Ian Colditz, Sam Clark and Brad Hine, my knowledge and passion for livestock research grew further still. My thesis focused on the use of a novel attention bias test for assessing emotional states in sheep. I also developed a novel method for assessing rate of acclimation to new environments and handling in beef cattle and worked towards the identification of a resilience phenotype in sheep.
I am now working to develop a management tool for beef producers to collect and manage welfare data on-farm and benchmark their welfare performance against comparable properties. This exciting collaboration between the CSIRO, NSW DPI and MLA forms the basis of my postdoctoral research fellowship with the University of New England. I am passionate about improving the quality of life of livestock across all production systems and am excited about the role of technology in making that happen. My key research interests currently include:
- Benchmarking welfare in beef cattle to facilitate industry-wide improvements in quality of life
- Assessment of affective states and personality in livestock
- Developing practical tools for the assessment and improvement of livestock welfare
Other Interests
Art, photography, cake decorating and roller skating.
Achievements and Awards
-
2019-2019
Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal
University of New England -
2019-2019
Student poster prize at the 53rd International Congress of ISAE
International Society for Applied Ethology -
2018-2018
Student poster prize at UFAW Animal Welfare Across Borders
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare -
2017-2017
Finalist for the ‘Communicate your research’ competition at SMARTBEEF
Australian Lot Feeders' Association -
2015-2015
Associate Professor John L. Barnett Memorial Prize for Best Essay in Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science
University of Sydney
Professional Areas
Academic Qualifications
-
2019
Doctor of Philosophy
The University of New England and CSIRO -
2015
Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (Honours I)
The University of Sydney
Professional Experiences
-
2020-Current
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of New England and CSIRO -
2022-Current
Casual academic (lecturing)
University of Sydney -
2019-2020
Postdoctoral researcher
NSW Department of Planning, Industries and Environment (DPIE)
Publications
ORCID 0000-0002-4571-2285
We have publications by Dr Jessica Monk