Amalia Urloiu
MSc Student
Dairy Cattle; Animals in Society
About
While taking some APBI courses as electives, I realized how much I appreciated the conceptual learning framework and enjoyed the animal welfare science topics. I have always felt a deep connection and adoration for animals and been fascinated by animal behaviour. By transferring into Applied Animal Biology during my third year, I was able to genuinely enjoy all of my higher-level course material, which substantially improved my university experience.
I became more involved with the UBC Animal Welfare Program (AWP) through APBI 398, assisting a research study on Canadian dairy cattle veterinarian perspectives around the surplus calf issue. In my final undergraduate year, I did a Work Learn as the AWP’s Support Assistant and an undergraduate thesis (APBI 499) with Dr. Marina von Keyserlingk on Canadian dairy farmer perspectives of calf welfare issues in their 24h after calving. In term 2, I also joined a research collaboration with the AWP and UBC Centre of Applied Ethics, investigating student perspectives of antimicrobial peptide use in farm animals. From discussions with professors and graduate students, attending lab meetings and performing research assistant work, I learned more about the AWP’s research and contributions for animal welfare, and knew I wanted to continue my research among this amazing group of people.
As part of my MSc thesis, I am currently working on a survey on public perspectives on welfare-related attributes of dairy cow housing systems. During my master’s, I aim to learn more about social science and behavioural science research methodologies for studying the importance of and motivation for agency, the impact of housing and handling conditions on dairy cow and calf behaviour and welfare, and factors influencing attitudes and decision-making towards dairy farm practices.
Education & Awards
BSc in Applied Animal Biology, UBC
University of British Columbia Medal in Applied Biology