The Animal Welfare Program (AWP) is thrilled to support undergraduate students in developing their research expertise through a number of programs. We would like to introduce you to a few of the students who have conducted research over the past year. These student researchers have covered a range of disciplines within the program. While most of these students have now graduated and moved on to other opportunities, the AWP continues to work with students in various capacities and at various stages of their undergraduate degrees. Read about other student experiences here.
Undergraduate students have participated in UBC’s Work Learn program, UBC’s Work Learn International Undergraduate Research Award and NSERC’s Undergraduate Student Research Award. In addition, there are a number of courses that have research opportunities as well as a number of opportunities for self-directed study through a directed studies (APBI 497), undergraduate essay (APBI 498), or thesis (APBI 499).
Jillian Hendricks
Jillian became involved in the AWP in her first year of university when she was looking to gain experience before applying to veterinary school. She did a year of volunteer work where she helped with a literature review on tiestalls on dairy farms and a study on the effect of dairy heifer training on their response to subcutaneous injections. In her fourth year, she wrote an Undergraduate Thesis (APBI 499) on Canadian veterinarians’ perceptions on the care of surplus dairy calves, which has been published in the Journal of Dairy Science. Jillian graduated with her BSc in Applied Animal Biology (Honours) in June 2022. In the fall of 2023, she started a PhD in Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, where she is currently investigating the effect of hunger due to feed restriction on the emotional wellbeing of dairy calves. Read her story here!
Yasamin Ranjbar
Yasamin’s experience in the Applied Biology (APBI) program at UBC began when she joined in hopes of preparing herself for veterinary school. Yasamin started gaining more knowledge on animal welfare by taking various APBI courses (314, 315, 317), where she connected with her TA’s to ask for assistance in her coursework and to learn about volunteer opportunities with their research. During the summer of 2021, Yasamin was hired at the UBC Dairy Farm as a student worker and enjoyed the experience so much that she decided to stay at the farm for a practicum. At the same time, Yasamin started another directed study related to laboratory animals with Dr. Dan Weary and one of his graduate students. Read her story here!
Bryna Turk
In APBI 495 (Human Wildlife Conflict), Bryna was part of a team of students who monitored bird-window collisions at the UBC Botanical Garden in order to understand which window facades offered more significant threats to resident and migratory birds and why, so they could eventually be mitigated with bird-friendly window applications (some of which were actually implemented!). In APBI 497, she participated in a directed studies project with Dr. Sasha Protopopova and Bailey Eagan to investigate the effects of climate variables like temperature and precipitation on kitten intake to BC SPCA locations across the province. Her work with Sasha and Bailey got her thinking more about the relationships between human and animal welfare, and Bryna decided to produce a podcast about pet-friendly housing in Vancouver for the class LFS 400 (Audio Storytelling). Read her story here!
Becky Kenworthy
During Becky’s first in-person semester of classes back on campus after the pandemic, she was introduced to Dr. Alexandra Protopopova after taking her graduate seminar about the complexities of animal learning and motivation. Have you ever had an “aha” moment that seemed to light every bulb? Becky did! And under Dr. Protopopova’s thoughtful guidance, Becky found herself working with horses again in ways that allowed her to strive to better understand factors impacting their motivation with the hope that it would prepare owners, handlers, and trainers with informed solutions to reduce stress and enhance learning performance through increased positive associations to humans, which promotes better welfare for the horses in their care. Becky began pursuing a Major in Psychology until she met Dr. Amelia McCrae, the instructor for APBI 316: Equine Biology, Health and Welfare. After this, her venture into the Animal Welfare Program became all but inevitable. Read her story here!
