Researcher working with production animal welfare with primary emphasis on dairy cattle health and welfare, bridging between ethology and epidemiology. My principal areas of research cover the wellbeing of our production animals, and, in particular, how production settings and management decisions accommodate their needs and affect their natural behaviour and physical state. This includes not only the evaluation of animal welfare in terms of clinical and behavioural manifestations but also evaluating the effects of housing and management hereby covering  pain, stress and discomfort recognition and treatment at all stages of production. In this process, focus is given to epidemiological concepts and considerations in order to build substantial grounds for validation of methods applied in practice and justify the implementation of these methods in research-based teaching and legislation. Hence, my research is covering diagnostic tests and hierarchical epidemiological models in the process of evaluating welfare assessment strategies (clinical/behavioural observations and register data) and risk factor studies. Research projects from ViD – the Knowlegde Centre for Animal Welfare and collaboration with the industry (dairy sector, fattening sector, animal transport, veterinary practioners etc.). Teaching courses throughout the veterinary and animal science curriculum and Ph.D courses held by the Section for Animal Welfare and Disease Control as well as supervising BSc, MSc, and PhD students.

2020 Associate Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Jurisprudence, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences

2018 Post doc, Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University

2016 Diplomat of the European College for Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine, subspeciality Animal Welfare Science, Law & Ethics (ECAWBM-AWSEL)

2014 Assistant professor, Section for Animal Welfare & Disease Control

2013 PhD “Risk-based identification of livestock herds with potential animal welfare problems” Department of Large Animal Sciences, Group of Population Biology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Keywords: animal welfare, diagnostic test evaluation, misclassification, dairy cattle, on-farm welfare assessment, risk-based surveillance, teaching

2007-2009 Veterinary practioner, bovine herd health management and equine practice

2007 DVM, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Research projects:

Aug 2024 – July 2025       Project lead on ”Evaluering af peri parturiente smerter hos malkekvæg”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2022 – Dec 2024        “Drægtige kviers velfærd under og efter lange transporter (>29t)” Viking Gentics, BoviDanmark

Jan 2022 - Dec 2023         External consultancy “Dyrevelfærd vurderet udfra dyrebaserede velfærdsindikatorer”, project lead SEGES, Danish Milk Levy Fund and Danish Cattle Levy Fund

Jan 2021 – Dec 2021        Work package lead on “Virkning af forskellig mælkefodringsmanagement på kalves velfærd”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2019 – Oct 2021        Work package lead on ”Indeks og Veterinærforlig III”, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2022 – Dec 2022        Project lead in “Robuste kalve -gennem aktivering af ny viden og metoder” KU SUND & SEGES Robuste Kalve gennem aktivering af ny viden og metoder – Københavns Universitet (ku.dk)

Sep 2018 – Dec 2021       Work package lead in “Robuste kalve-godt begyndt er halvt fuldendt", KU SUND, DTU-VET, AU ANIS & SEGES Robuste kalve – Københavns Universitet (ku.dk)

Jan 2020 – Dec 2020        “Kvantificering af smitsomme husdyrsygdommes betydning for dyrevelfærd”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

“Uddannelse af dyretransportører og overholdelse af Transportforordningen”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2019 – Dec 2019        “Smitsomme husdyrsygdomme og velfærd”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

May 2018 – Sep 2018      ”GplusE – Genotype plus Environment. Integration for a more sustainable dairy production system. WP 6: Management strategies at herd and cow levels for improved efficiency, environmental sustainability, health and welfare for cows of the future”, AU ANIS, FP7 project funded by the European Union

Aug 2017 – July 2018       “Vejen til 6. Laktation – større værdi via holdbare køer” – WP 1 ”Optimal indretning og anvendelse af velfærdsafdeling”, SEGES

March 2017- Feb 2018    “The properties of dairy cow ”pain face” as welfare indicator on herd level - consistency over time”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2017- Dec 2017          “Identification of areas with potentials for improvement in animal welfare”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

“Index slaughter data”, Identification of areas with potentials for improvement in animal welfare”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2015-Dec 2015           “Calf welfare in organic dairy herds”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2015-Dec 2016          “DAWIN – The Danish Animal Welfare Index”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2015-Dec 2016           “Fitness for transport of broiler chicken”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

Jan 2013-Apr 2013           “Skismaet mellem dyrevelfærdshensyn og smittebekæmpelse i kvægbesætninger”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

December 2012                 “Smertedetektionsskema til kvæg”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration

October 2011                     “Databaser-potentiale for dyrevelfærdsvurdering”, Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Food and Veterinary Administration