Completed and near-completed doctoral theses:
Completed and near-completed doctoral theses:
The University of Southampton was fortunate to host one Wellcome funded PhD studentship within the AnNex programme. This was held by Tess Skidmore who completed in 2021, producing her thesis on the policy and practice of rehoming laboratory animals. Tess worked alongside two other doctoral candidates who shared her interest in human-animal relations, also studying with Emma Roe. These candidates were Rebecca Thomas and Kate Goldie. Through their research they have produced important social science doctoral research, which challenges understandings of human-animal relations in animal research.
.png "Three laboratory pigs. Photo Credit: Kate Goldie")
Dr Rebecca Thomas’ completed thesis ‘Cultivating more-than-animal welfare within the animal research facility’ uses two of the Five Freedoms - ‘Freedom from Discomfort’ and ‘Freedom from Fear and Distress’ - as a novel multidisciplinary tool for exploring human-animal wellbeing. These two Freedoms are discussed in relation to the practice of providing enrichment and carrying out euthanasia. Rebecca notably explores her own experience of researching in animal facilities and the need to extend an ethic of care to researchers collecting data in these spaces. She argues that the use of the Freedoms framework provides an important stepping stone towards a more relational and multidisciplinary understanding of both humans and animal within the laboratory, as well as recognising the implicit harms that can be found within the research landscape.
Kate Goldie is close to submitting her thesis. The thesis has a working title of ‘Affective human-pig relations’. She has written one chapter based on her experience of researching these human-pig relations within animal facilities. Examining the affective characteristics of these relationships, her research spotlights the unique challenges faced by animal technicians in providing pig care. The charisma of the pig engenders a distinct interspecies intimacy between technicians and pigs, leading to a commitment to 'meaningful care'. Providing meaningful care to pigs not only benefits the animals themselves but also the technicians, allowing opportunities to ‘give back’ to pigs in their care. However, this intimate way of knowing the pig was not always shared by researchers who were detached from daily pig care. The research suggests that animal research facilities should provide opportunities for researchers to connect with both animal technicians and the pigs involved in their studies. This recommendation underscores the importance of fostering a comprehensive understanding and collaboration between those directly caring for the animals and those conducting scientific research.