The Research Team

Jamie Ahloy Dallaire

Assosciate Professor

Prior to arriving at Université Laval in 2018, Jamie Ahloy-Dallaire worked with various farm and lab animals, primarily mink and mice. His research has touched on abnormal behaviour, juvenile play, pain assessment, validity of biomedical animal models, and development of automated research and monitoring tools.

[ TWITTER / RESEARCHGATE / GOOGLE SCHOLAR / jamie.ahloy-dallaire.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Anik Boileau

Doctoral Candidate

Validation of a welfare assessment protocol of humpback and fin whales found in the Gulf of St-Lawrence, Sept-Îles area

Anik Boileau is whale researcher and animal welfare scientist that specialized on the use of infrared thermography in the emotional assessment of pigs engaged in agonistic behaviours. Her current research focuses on the validation of animal base welfare indicators to assess free range whales, including physical, physiological and behavioural indicators.

[ LINKEDIN / WEBSITE / RESEARCHGATE / anik.boileau.1 at ulaval.ca ]

gwendoline karoui

Doctoral Candidate

Robustness of emotion welfare in swine: development and validation of an automated measurement tool to facilitate genetic selection

Gwendoline Karoui completed a master's in human and animal behaviour at Université de Rennes, including research projects on aggression in pigs and on dam rearing of dairy calves. She is primarily interested in farm mammal welfare.

[ RESEARCHGATE / gwendoline.karoui.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Nicoletta Patamia

Doctoral Candidate

Characterising and promoting positive social dynamics to make piglets more resilient to infectious disease

Nicoletta Patamia earned a specialisation in applied ethology and animal welfare and a bachelor's in animal science at the University of Milan. Her professional experience in contact with farmers has greatly enriched her knowledge of the zootechnic sector, in which she has worked with cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and poultry. She has additionally worked on prevention of undesirable behaviours in dogs, as well as bite prevention in children.

[ nicoletta.patamia.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Azzedine Chebahi

Doctoral Candidate

Study on the relationships between animal play and animal welfare

CHEBAHI Azzedine is a veterinarian who also obtained a master's in cellular physiology and physiopathology from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene. He has worked on zoonotic diseases, especially tuberculosis on which he has led studies in animals (ruminants) and humans. His experience has given him a global vision of health represented by the triad: Human health - Animal health - Environmental health. He has always been interested in the relationships between humans and animals, and this is what motivated him to pursue doctoral studies in animal science and to do research on animal behaviour.

[ LINKEDIN / azzedine.chebahi.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Luis Andrés Gonzalez Gracia

Doctoral Candidate

Analysis of social behaviour of pigs using automated data collection

Luis Andrés Gonzalez Gracia is a veterinarian with a specialization in Public Health and Preventative Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, where he was part of the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Lab’s first members. During his Masters in Agroecosystems (Federal University of Santa Catarina) he studied social behavior in dairy cows, having the opportunity to work at the UBC Dairy Centre as an Emergent Leader in the Americas Program scholar. He is interested in animal cognition, social behaviour, and the use of technology to aid to improve the welfare of farmed animals.

[ TWITTER / luis-andres.gonzalez-gracia.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Anne Marthe Sophie Ngo Bibinbe

Doctoral Candidate (primary supervisor: Éric Paquet)

Animal tracking and behaviour recognition using computer vision

NGO BIBINBE Anne Marthe Sophie is a computer engineer graduated from Polytechnique Yaoundé with a specialisation in data science from the University of Clermont Auvergne, where she developed a passion for artificial intelligence. She is currently specialised in computer vision, notably in multiple object tracking and event recognition.

[ anne-marthe-sophie.ngo-bibinbe.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Éliade fournier

Research assistant / soon-to-be Master's Student

Professionnal internship in agronomy (undergraduate) and multiple research assistantships

Éliade Fournier has been a research assistant in the lab since 2023 and completed her professional research internship in 2024. She is completing a bachelor’s degree in agronomy with a specialization in animal production and will then pursue a master’s degree in animal science. Her past research experience has focused on projects related to the welfare of sows and piglets, and she is passionate about improving the welfare of all livestock species.

[ eliade.fournier.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Maradiya Samare

Doctoral Student (primary supervisor: Frédéric Guay)

Transition feeding of sows: strategies to improve sow performance and reduce mortality

Maradiya Samare holds a Master’s degree in Livestock Systems from Institut Agro Montpellier (France) and a Master’s in Poultry Production Techniques from the Regional Center of Excellence in Avian Sciences (Togo). She has worked on research projects in several countries, including France, Nigeria and Togo, with a particular focus on the economic evaluation of vaccination strategies and the development of technical resources for livestock farmers. Passionate about animal health and welfare, her current research focuses on the assessment of pain in sows during farrowing.

[ maradiya.samare.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Former team members

Sophie Brajon

Postdoctoral Researcher (primary supervisor: Frédéric Guay)

Welfare and productivity of sows housed in large groups: impact of genetics and hierarchical social status

Sophie Brajon is an ethologist specialised on the impact of living conditions on the behaviour and welfare of domestic animals, mainly pigs, mice and horses. Her research focuses on human-animal relationship, cognition and emotions, environmental enrichment, social behaviour, prenatal stress and perinatal mortality.

[ LINKEDIN / RESEARCHGATE / TWITTER / WEBSITE / sophie.brajon.1 at ulaval.ca ]

CATHERINE GIRARD

Research intern

Professionnal internship in agronomy (undergraduate)

Catherine Girard provided assistance with research projects, mainly on pigs and cows. She worked on a comparison of different accelerometers attached to cows' legs and participated in two projects focused on the nutrition of growing pigs and nursery piglets.

[ catherine.girard.12 at ulaval.ca ]

Vicki Clouet-Côté

Introduction to research in animal science

Studying agronomy - animal production (undergraduate)

Vicki Clouet-Côté joined the lab by taking the Introduction to research in animal science class. She worked on the characteristics and quantification of interactions between piglets and an unrelated sow in group housing during lactation. Joining the research group allowed her to further develop her scientific knowledge in perparation for undertaking graduate studies.

[ vicki.clouet-cote.1 at ulaval.ca ]

DOROTHÉE BLANCHET-BROCHU

Master's Student

Relationships between play and animal welfare in farmed piglets

Dorothée Blanchet-Brochu completed a bachelor's degree in agronomy, which allowed her to undertake internships in different areas, including dairy and vegetable production.

[ dorothee.blanchet-brochu.1 at ulaval.ca ]

Pablo Dodoo

Master's Student

Effects of rye supplementation on welfare of sows and piglets

Pablo Dodoo is an agronomist engineer in animal production and biotechnology. He completed his professional master's at the Faculty of Agronomic Science at the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin, West Africa). During his university studies, he has worked in zootechnics and animal nutrition, notably on pigs, fish and poultry. He is interesting in improving food animal production techniques and processes to improve human nutrition, while caring for the environment and other aspects including the welfare of the animals in question.

[ ade-barthelemy-pablo.dodoo.1 at ulaval.ca ]