Dr Helen Higgins BSc, BVSc, CertCHP, MSc, PhD, FHEA, MRCVS

Research Overview

My research is focused on understanding how to help animal owners implement evidence-based disease control and prevention measures, in reality. This has benefits for animals, their owners and the environment. It involves identifying barriers to the uptake of veterinary and husbandry advice, and then seeks to find novel and creative implementation strategies to overcome them. I am interested in veterinary implementation problems in a variety of clinical contexts, including relating to antimicrobial resistance in livestock, lameness in beef cattle, and fertility in dairy cattle. This research includes de-implementing advice or procedures that are no longer considered best practice. My research is interdisciplinary and involves facilitating behaviour changes for both animal owners and vets. It follows on from my PhD which involved working with psychologists and Bayesian statisticians, in a farm animal veterinary setting. The overarching goal is to ensure that new research findings are adopted into veterinary clinical practice, and the husbandry provided to animals, in a timely manner.