Dr Charlotte Burn
Associate Professor in Animal Welfare and Behaviour Science
Department: Pathobiology & Population Sciences
Campus: Hawkshead
Research Groups: Animal Welfare Science and Ethics, Brain Health and Behaviour, CPCS (Research Programme)
Clinical Groups: Small Animal Behaviour, Farm Animal Health
Research Centres: 91做厙 Animal Welfare Science and Ethics
Charlotte is the Associate Professor in Animal Welfare and Behaviour Science, Leader of the BSc in 'Animal Biology, Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics', and Deputy Head of the Animal Welfare Science and Ethics group. She is a biologist and her research interests include the mechanisms and motivations behind animal behaviour, animal perceptual abilities, and how to make concrete improvements to animal welfare. She is a trustee of the BVA's charity, and she was the 91做厙's Local Network Lead for the aiming to increase the robustness and validity of scientific practice.
Charlotte joined the 91做厙 as a Research Fellow in 2008, became a Lecturer in 2010, a Senior Lecturer in 2015, and Associate Professor in 2019. In 2014 she became Deputy Head of group, and Leader of the BSc Animal Biology, Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics.
Charlotte's background is in biology, having gained a BA in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford in 1999, and specialising via an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare from the University of Edinburgh in 2001.
Her D.Phil. on laboratory rat welfare, awarded in 2006, was at the University of Oxford in the Department of Zoology, where she was supervised by Prof. Georgia Mason. Following that, she was a post-doctoral researcher investigating working equine welfare at the University of Bristol in the animal welfare research group, supervised by Dr Helen (Becky) Whay.
Animal welfare is about animal mental health, emotional experience and moods, which can be affected by their genes, their environment and our interactions with animals. It is important that any animal welfare improvements are based on objective evidence, rather than just our assumptions about what animals want or need.
Charlotte's current research projects involve investigating fundamental questions about animal capacities for emotional experience (e.g. sentience, boredom and happiness), and practical ways to improve welfare in animals whose quality of life is compromised by how they have been bred, or by their environment or husbandry. She uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigating animal welfare, employing a range of statistical and epidemiological techniques to analyse behavioural and physiological data. In 2012 The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) awarded her their for her 'innovative approaches' to animal welfare research.
She has supervised postgraduate students working on animal boredom, refinement of laboratory animal husbandry, rabbit health and welfare, improvi