I study how sheep move, feed and stay together as a group, and why individual sheep behave differently from one another. Hot, dry weather is making life harder for sheep and for the people who farm them. To help sheep cope, we first need to understand how they make decisions out in the paddock. Those decisions depend on the animal itself and on the group around it. My project looks at two things how hungry a sheep is and how well it knows the other sheep in its group. I track animals with GPS, video and motion sensors to see where they go, what they are doing and who they spend time with. Then I use social network analysis and mathematical models to explain and predict patterns such as who leads, who follows and how a flock chooses where to graze. My training is in quantitative genetics, so I also want to know how much of this variation between sheep might be inherited. Behavioural genetics and mathematical modelling fit together well, and I hope to bring them together in future work.

In Pakistan, I worked on genotyping Pakistani buffalo breeds as part of an IAEA-funded project on genomic selection, and studied casein genes linked to milk quality. I also developed a statistical approach for combining several traits into one genetic merit index for livestock breeding. This work taught me how to handle large genetic datasets, build statistical models and run large field sampling projects. I now use the same skills to study animal behaviour.