Dr Heather Cameron-Whytock
Senior Lecturer in Animal and Veterinary Sciences
School of Veterinary Medicine
Heather teaches across our Bioveterinary Sciences and BVMS degrees. She manages and organises modules related to anatomy and physiology, science communication and research skills. Heather has a particular interest in animal welfare, performance and physiology. She holds a PhD in injury epidemiology and equine welfare within equestrian sport and has a number of published research articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Heather graduated with her PhD from the University of Central Lancashire in 2021. During this time, she was also a senior lecturer for four years at Nottingham Trent University, leading subjects including Anatomy and Physiology, Applied Exercise Physiology and Dissertation research.
Heather is passionate about novel approaches to teaching in the higher education environment, being previously raised as an example of good practice for her use of innovative methods for maximising student engagement. Having journeyed through to PhD level qualification via a non-traditional background, Heather is driven by a desire to ensure equal opportunities for all. She uses novel teaching technologies that better cater to the individual needs of students than traditional approaches.
In addition to her teaching role, Heather supervises a number of Master and PhD students, providing expertise on survey-based research, physiological monitoring of arousal and statistical analysis.
Heather's research to date has mainly centred around equestrian eventing, using big data to identify risk factors for cross-country horse falls and alternatively, safe completions. The results of these studies are used to develop evidence-based risk management recommendations for equestrian sport governing bodies such as the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and British Eventing (BE). Further to this work, Heather is actively involved in other fields of research such as biomechanics, equine cognition and equine exercise physiology.
Heather has presented her research at a number of international conferences and events and has been an invited speaker to several FEI risk management seminars. Heather has also delivered keynote talks for the British Racing School/Scottish Racing Academy and Equestrian Australia.
Heather is passionate about animal welfare. She puts her data analysis skills to good use by consulting on projects that generally focus on reducing risk to animals and people in sport and projects that feed into animal welfare policy. She has consulted on projects such as this for Equestrian Australia and Redwings charity (in collaboration with the National Equine Welfare Council).
- BSc(Hons) Equine Science (Physiology), Myerscough University Centre
- PhD Veterinary Epidemiology, University of Central Lancashire
- First place oral presentation, University of Central Lancashire, 2016
- Veterinary epidemiologic research (statistics)
- Physiology
- Heart rate and heart rate variability monitoring of animals/people to assess stress
- Biomechanics
- Equestrian sport
- Equestrian performance
- Equine cognition
- Fellow (FHEA), Higher Education Academy
- Equine Welfare Research Network
- Member of the International Society for Applied Ethology
- Member of the Animal Welfare Research Network
Heather's research so far has been centered around risk of injury and fatality in equestrian eventing, using big data to identify factors associated with both high-risk (horse/rider falls) and desirable (safe completion) outcomes. This research has been covered widely in equestrian media outlets including Horse & Hound, HorseTalkNZ and The Horse.
Heather has also used HRV as a tool to assess stress/welfare in horses and riders in a competitive environment, with the addition of emotional state assessment and personality testing in riders. Outside of her work on risk in equestrian eventing, Heather has contributed to equine exercise physiology, equine cognition and rider biomechanics research, including a world-first (test of concept) study that used Theia (a marker-less motion capture system) to assess kinematics in mounted horse riders.
Heather has presented her research at international conferences in Malaysia, Budapest, Denmark, Ireland and the UK. She has worked closely with British Eventing throughout her research in addition to contributing to projects funded by the FEI, and has presented her research findings at three FEI Eventing Risk Management Seminar's to date, in the UK, Spain and Switzerland.
In addition to producing research outputs and delivering external presentations, Heather has written for The Conversation as an expert academic and is an expert reviewer for The Veterinary Record and Equine Veterinary Journal for research in the field of Equine Sports Medicine.
Use the links below to view their profiles:
- Equine Welfare Research Network
- International Society for Equitation Science Conference, Denmark 2014
- Risk factors for horse falls in the cross-country phase of one-day events, lead author, presenting
- International Society for Performance Analysis in Sport, Belfast 2016
- Analysis of risk factors for horse falls during the cross-country phase in the equestrian sport of eventing, lead author, presenting
- UCLan Research Student Conference, UK 2017
- A combined data and field analysis of the risk factors for horse falls in the cross-country phase of British Eventing competition: preliminary findings, lead author, presenting
- Equine Transitions and Cultures, UK 2018
- Is the thrill of the ride worth the risk? Horse rider experiences in British Eventing, co-author
- International Society for Performance Analysis in Sport, Budapest 2019
- In it to win it: Measuring stress responses in horses and riders during eventing competition, lead author, presenting
- International Society for Equitation Science, UK, 2022
- Re-thinking horse falls: working towards eventing sport safety., lead author, presenting
Email: Email:Dr Heather Cameron-Whytock
Use the links below to view their profiles: