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ERA is a digital repository of original research produced at The University of Edinburgh. The archive contains documents written by, or affiliated with, academic authors, or units, based at Edinburgh that have sufficient quality to be collected and preserved by the Library, but which are not controlled by commercial publishers. Holdings include full-text digital doctoral theses, masters dissertations, project reports, briefing papers and out-of-print materials.

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Exploring the role of nutrition in expression of positive and negative social behaviours to improve pig welfare
(The University of Edinburgh. Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, 2026-05-18) Hewett, Eleanor; Turner,, Simon; Houdijk, Jos; Wilson, Andrea; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); EASTBIO Doctoral Training programme; PIC; Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
The pig is a highly social and intelligent animal. One of the most numerous farmed animals globally, it’s domestication and intensive production have led to significant welfare issues. One of the main ways to conceptualise animal welfare argues that welfare issues arise when animals are prevented from performing their natural behaviours. Despite their domestication, pigs still retain a strong desire and motivation to perform behaviours seen in their wild counterparts. It is therefore important to have knowledge of the pigs’ wild behaviour to enable us to improve their welfare. In the wild pigs live in small groups of related females, called sounders. Post-pubertal males live a solitary life and only interact with females during mating. At mating, males will fight with one another in competition for access to a female. Other than at mating, fighting is rare in wild pigs as they mutually avoid pigs in neighbouring home ranges. Within the sounder, some aggressive behaviours may be seen over access to food or other resources. Largely, sounders have a stable dominance hierarchy, with sows cooperatively raising and protecting piglets and piglets playing and foraging with piglets from other litters. Both wild and domestic pigs display a range of positive social behaviours, including play and affiliative behaviours such as social nosing and allogrooming. Social nosing is the gentle nose touching of one pig by another and allogrooming is the gentle grooming of one pig by another using the snout and mouth. Both behaviours cause no injury. Play is a more extensively studied behaviour and is seen in pigs, as in other mammals, in early life and mimics behaviours displayed by adult pigs (e.g. fighting). Play can be broadly categorised into object play, locomotor play and play fighting. Although vigorous at times, play does not usually cause injury. Wild and domestic pigs also perform negative social behaviours that damage or injure the actor and/or recipient of the behaviour. Fighting and biting behaviours are two of the most commonly observed negative social behaviours in domestic pigs. In wild pigs, obsessive biting behaviour of tails, ears or other body parts has not been observed in natural conditions. This behaviour seems to be exclusively shown under intensive commercial production conditions, tiggered primarily by a lack of suitable substrate to allow expression of foraging behaviour. Fighting in domestic pigs is also different to that seen in wild pigs. In domestic pigs, due to mixing with unfamiliar pigs at various points throughout the production cycle, fighting is more common and more injurious, except by comparison to that between adult males during the breeding season. Pigs do not have the space to retreat or hide and so fights escalate and continue longer than they might in the wild. Reduced living space and limited resources can also cause increased aggressive behaviours and fighting in domestic pigs. The social behaviour of pigs can be used as an indicator of their welfare as good animal welfare may be equated with the expression of a behavioural repertoire similar to that in the wild. Using this framework, pigs that perform high levels of play behaviour and low levels of biting and fighting behaviours are believed to have higher welfare. Positive forms of social interaction, such as social play, are a particularly sensitive indicator of animal welfare. These behaviours are displayed elastically, and their expression is more sensitive to internal and external state than behaviours essential for immediate survival. The Surplus Resource Theory suggests that animals that have access to adequate resources are more likely to engage in play behaviour than animals whose resource needs are not met. These resources can include feed/nutrients, space, safety from predators and access to siblings and the mother. When looking at negative social behaviours in the context of the Five Freedoms, hunger and thirst, discomfort (poor environment), disease, and fear and distress are markers of poor welfare and are also common risk factors in tail biting. Levels of both positive and negative social behaviours can be measured to give an indication of overall animal welfare. Extensive research has been conducted to understand and remedy low welfare in pigs, but significant issues persist. Proposed solutions often lack commercial applicability or are not economically viable for current production systems. One strategy proposed to improve welfare is manipulation of the diet. Pigs fed well-tailored and satiating diets may be less likely to exhibit negative social behaviours. The link between diet and behaviour is complex and not fully understood but there is substantial evidence from human studies that the quantity and composition of food are important factors to consider when examining the effect of diet on health and behaviour. In this instance, the human serves as a model for the pig. Since the time of the Ancient Greek civilisation, humans have been interested in the relationship between the brain and the gut. Early studies showed that the gut physiologically responded to changes in emotional state. The field of neurogastroenterology emerged at the end of the 20th century, further exploring and explaining the bidirectional gut-brain-axis. In addition to the gut-brain-axis, we must consider the microbiota-gut-brain-axis. It is estimated that the mammalian digestive tract contains 100 trillion bacteria and studies have shown that these bacteria play an important role in human behaviour and cognition. The microbiome is responsible for performing functions the host is not capable of, for example the fermentation of dietary fibre. Short chain fatty acids produced by the fermentation of fibre cross from the gut into the blood and impact brain function. This thesis will not focus on the role or composition of the pig’s microbiome, but it is important that we draw attention to it, as a major contributing factor to brain function and behaviour. The digestive system and its microbiome are only half of the equation; the other is what the pigs eat. Feed is a largely unexplored area of production when striving to improve the welfare of pigs. There have been some studies looking at the provision of fibre to farrowing sows to reduce stereotypical behaviours, prophylactic feed additives for weaning pigs and herbal additives intended to reduce stress in finishing pigs during transport. I have focused on the feed provided to growing and finishing pigs and specifically on the energy and amino acid content and their effect on behaviour. I began our exploration looking at the effect of dietary energy on the play behaviour of weaned pigs. In Chapter 2, I based the study around the Surplus Resource Theory which proposes that play behaviour is expressed more abundantly in juveniles that have access to necessary resources. I proposed that sufficient dietary energy was likely to be a requirement for play and therefore hypothesised that pigs on an energy-deficient diet will show reduced play.  As well as being of direct applied welfare relevance, this study filled a fundamental knowledge gap by conducting the first empirical manipulation of energy provision to test the Surplus Resource Theory. A total of 128 mixed sex, weaned pigs were placed on one of two diets; a basal energy level or a lower energy level achieved by diluting the basal diet with Arbocel (basal diet: digestible energy 16.9 MJ/kg, fibre 8.5%, crude protein 18.1%, Arbocel diet: digestible energy 15.3 MJ/kg, fibre 18.4%, crude protein 16.1%). Pigs were moved to a play arena 4 times over a period of 10 days and on alternate occasions, given a sucrose supplement. I hypothesised that the provision of the sucrose supplement would increase play behaviour, particularly for pigs on the low energy diet, compared to play sessions when no sucrose supplement was given. Mixed model analysis showed that the low energy diet reduced daily weight gain (p=0.005) and increased feed conversion ratio (p<0.001). Dietary treatment and play session interacted to affect social object (P=0.025), solo locomotor (P<0.001) and social locomotor play (P<0.001). Dietary treatment and pen mate average sugar intake interacted to affect social object (P=0.019) and social locomotor play (P<0.001). Play session (P<0.001), and the interaction between dietary treatment and pen mate average sugar intake (P=0.002) affected total play. Overall, the high energy diet appeared to extend the developmental period of heightened engagement in social play. There was no effect of the amount of sucrose eaten by the individual itself. Our findings suggest that diet quality in weaned pigs may impact specific aspects of play behaviour with potential benefits for animal welfare.  In Chapter 3, I shifted our focus to amino acids. Previous research has highlighted the modulation of dietary tryptophan as a method of influencing the behaviour of pigs, due to its role as a precursor for the neurotransmitter serotonin which is known to affect expression of social behaviour. However previous research has tended to supplement tryptophan at levels far above the commercial norm and at the time of study design, no research had been conducted to look at the effect of lysine (the first limiting amino acid in pig diets) on pig social behaviour. The aim of our second study was therefore to explore the effects of dietary lysine (Lys) and the tryptophan to lysine ratio (Trp:Lys) on the social behaviour of commercially housed pigs. This study was conducted on a large commercial unit in the USA, using an initial cohort of 2,293 castrated males from the PIC Camborough breeding line. I started the trial with a randomised complete block design with a 2×3 factorial arrangement of the following factors: 1) Standardised ileal digestible Lys levels: 100% Lys = diets with 100% PIC requirement at the midpoint of the growth phase (Lys 100) vs 80% Lys = diets with 80% PIC requirement at the midpoint of the growth phase (Lys 80); and 2) Trp to Lys ratio of 0.210, 0.185 or 0.160. A range of positive and negative social behaviours were recorded, together with skin lesion and production data. After feeding phase 2, treatment 6 pigs (lowest Lys, 80% and lowest Trp:Lys, 0.016) were removed from the trial due to reaching their behaviour (i.e. ethical) and production end points. Chapter 3 focuses on the behaviour and lesion data whilst chapter 4 covers the analysis of the production data. In chapter 3 I report an effect of Lys (P=0.032) on ear biting behaviour, with pigs on the Lys 80 treatments showing a higher level of ear biting behaviour. I also found an effect of the Lys and score week interaction on the proportion of pens showing ear lesions (P<0.001) and a significant effect of the Lys and Trp:Lys interaction (P=0.030) and the Lys and score week interaction (P=0.0104) on the proportion of pens showing severe ear lesions. These results showed that low lysine levels increased ear biting behaviour and diets low in both Lys and Try:Lys increased the incidences of severe ear lesions. Tail and flank biting were not common in this population, but the potential remains for Lys levels to affect this behaviour in other populations and so deserves further exploration. I conclude that lysine and the interaction of Lys and Trp:Lys content of feed can affect the social behaviour of pigs, specifically ear biting, in commercial conditions. Chapter 4 contains the production analysis from our second study. Feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded over five feeding phases (the duration of behaviour data collection). As described above, after feeding phase 2, treatment 6 pigs (lowest Lys; 80% and lowest Trp:Lys; 0.016) were removed from trial due to reaching their behaviour (i.e. ethical) and production end points. The production data collected were analysed in two ways: treatments 1-6 for feeding phases 1 and 2 and treatments 1-5 for feeding phases 1-5. In the first two feeding phases, the Lys and Trp:Lys interaction (p=<0.001) and the Trp:Lys and feeding phase interaction (p=<0.001) affected ADFI. The Lys and Trp:Lys interaction (p=<0.001) and the Trp:Lys and feeding phase interaction (p=<0.001) affected ADG. ADFI and ADG were lower in treatment 6 (Lys 80, Trp:Lys 0.160) pigs for both feeding phases. FCR was affected by Lys (p=<0.001) and feeding phase (p=<0.001). After the removal of treatment 6, over the full 5 feeding phases, Lys and feeding phase (p <0.001) interacted to affect FCR. The results from both analyses suggest that in addition to Lys content and feeding phase, the combination of low Lys and low Trp:Lys had the greatest negative effects on production. Chapter 5 builds on the work of chapters 3 and 4. This final study was designed to further explore the effect of lysine by comparing the effect of lysine levels at opposite ends of the spectrum currently available in commercial UK pig diets. A wider range of social behaviours was studied than in chapter 3 and, since the farm had a history of tail biting, greater opportunity to study the effect of lysine levels on tail biting was anticipated. An initial cohort of 723 mixed sex, Large White x Landrace x Danish Duroc grower pigs were randomly allocated across two treatments, high and low commercially available crude protein diets (HL and LL). As lysine is the first limiting amino acid, the effect of a low protein diet is mediated by the availability of lysine. For 21 days (commencing 3 days after starting on the trial diet), behaviour observations and skin lesion scores were recorded. Production metrics were collected over the full duration of the trial. I found no effect of diet on behaviour, lesions or production metrics. This is in conflict with my second study. I discuss in chapter 5 potential reasons for the conflicting results, primarily the modest difference in protein levels and the differences in production systems. I recommend additional research is required, across a diverse range of farming conditions and systems, to further explore the role of nutrition, and in particular crude protein and lysine, as a way to manipulate social behaviour in pigs. Throughout the three studies, I identified some common challenges and areas for improvement. One important area for refinement is the practicality, reliability, accuracy and consistency of human data collection. While I maintained consistency and avoided intra-observer variation by ensuring all data collection was performed by the same individual, there are questions around the reliability and accuracy of data collected on farm and over long periods of time from video recordings. There are also discussions to be had around the emotional and cognitive load of persons performing data collection. While studying the welfare of pigs, some thought should be given to the welfare of the researcher. Long periods of time spent observing low welfare conditions can potentially have a detrimental effect on the mental health of the observer. The use of AI and other technologies may help to optimise the data collection process and improve the experience of data collection for researchers. For the sake of transparency, I must acknowledge there were potential biases introduced to trials from not blinding the observer to the treatments. Due to the nature of this PhD project, blinding was not possible as I designed trials, collected data and performed the analysis. However, independent evidence corroborated behaviour observations, production data was free from an observer effect and the final decisions to remove pigs in study 2 and treat pigs in study 3 were made by farm staff. Other common challenges across studies 2 and 3 are those that come from carrying out research on commercial farms, with a range of stakeholders with varying priorities. Ultimately, I was at the mercy of the producer and production always took priority over research. This meant that the study design often had to be adapted to the realities of farm practices, but efforts were always taken to maximise study balance. In addition to the challenges of the commercial setting, comparison between my studies is difficult due to the different production systems. Size of farm, genetics, geographical location, management etc. are likely to have impacted on the results collected. Ideally a replication of the study carried out in the USA under UK and/or European conditions would be performed. It would also be beneficial to see how different lysine levels affect social behaviour of pigs over a range of housing and production systems. Another key discussion point is the effect of management interventions on the results collected. In all studies I outlined behavioural and welfare endpoints. Pigs which reached these endpoints were treated or removed from trial. In study 2, treatment 6 pigs were removed from trial, whilst in study 3 tail bitten pigs had their tails tarred and were treated or removed from the pen. It is possible that the effect of diet was therefore diluted as individual incidences and outbreaks of tail biting were not allowed to progress as they may have done on a commercial farm if left. There is also the episodic nature of negative social behaviours to consider. Longer term studies may have been beneficial in increasing the chances of observing such behaviours over different seasons, farrowings, health challenges and management conditions. Beyond challenges and improvements, there is a wider discussion about the social behaviour of pigs and how researchers identify and classify those behaviours. Widening the focus of pig behaviour studies, beyond those with immediately obvious relevance to production could help us to better understand the pig as an individual and as part of a wider social network. An important next step would also be to establish the mechanistic role of the neuroendocrine and microbiome systems in this effect of diet on social behaviour. Further research into the social behaviour of pigs would also be beneficial; by understanding how they communicate and form social bonds may help us strengthen and support those bonds and improve their welfare. All of the above points are discussed in detail in the discussion chapter of this thesis, while specific discussions of the studies are included in their respective chapters. Overall, I believe I have collected and presented sufficient evidence to show that diet does affect the social behaviour of pigs but further research into the topic is needed. The evidence presented in this thesis supports that diet has an important effect on behaviour but more specifically and less commonly studied, that dietary changes within the bounds of what is commercially available also have an effect on both positive and negative social behaviours. This presents a potentially commercially relevant and low-cost solution to reducing negative behaviours and promoting positive ones. However, simply changing the diet of intensively farmed pigs should not be seen as a silver bullet approach to improving welfare. Ideally, as over 40 years of research has shown, pigs should be given more space and provided with appropriate enrichment. However, in systems where this is not currently possible and as we transition to higher welfare systems, manipulating the diet of pigs could potentially improve their quality of life.
Negotiating self and others: a narrative study of Chinese boarding school experiences
(The University of Edinburgh, 2026-05-18) Nie, Tianmu; Rodriguez-Dorans, Edgar
Boarding schools in the British context are often associated with privilege and long-term psychological effects on ex-boarders. Rather than focusing on the impact of boarding school, this study explores how Chinese boarders make sense of their experiences within the specific social, cultural, and political context of China. Drawing on narrative interviews with seven participants who attended Chinese boarding schools, the study offers insight into how boarding school life is structured and experienced in China. Applying a relational lens, the research presents individual narrative portraits that illustrate boarders’ relationships with family, peers, teachers and school staff. Through these relational narratives, the study explores how students navigated their everyday lives in boarding schools and how they related to others in the setting of Chinese boarding schools. The analysis reveals the active role boarders played in engaging in personal growth, shaping their relationships, and negotiating institutional structures. This research highlights the diversity of Chinese boarding school experiences and the various ways in which students engage with those around them. It suggests that boarders are not merely passive recipients of institutional and relational influences, but are actively involved in constructing their relations. The study contributes to the understanding of boarding school life in China with a grounded, participant-informed perspective on relational dynamics.
Migrant women sex workers: a qualitative thematic analysis of their healthcare access experiences in a Thai context
(The University of Edinburgh, 2026-05-18) Amsri, Paichit; Haycock-Stuart, Elaine; Stenhouse, Rosie; EMPOWER Foundation Thailand
This thesis examines migrant women sex workers' (MWSWs) experiences of healthcare access and provision in Thailand. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm and guided by an intersectionality lens, the study applies thematic analysis to explore how MWSWs experience and navigate formal healthcare systems. Despite Thailand’s widely praised achievement in developing a system of universal healthcare, qualitative semi-structured interviews with MWSWs and the Thai NGO EMPOWER Foundation (n=39) suggest that MWSWs' lives are not lived under the umbrella of universal provision. Rather, their healthcare navigates precarious and contested negotiations. Intersectionality theory is used to identify how overlapping systems of disadvantage, including migration status, gender, socio-economic position, documentation, and sex work stigma, interact to shape the MWSW’s healthcare access and exclusion. Findings identify four interrelated forms of exclusion: •Communicative and Cultural Exclusion, •Symbolic Misrecognition, •Systemic Inaccessibility, and •Intersectional Hierarchies. Collectively, these forms of exclusion illuminate how policies, institutions, and everyday practices interact to position MWSWs as marginal, illegitimate, or invisible patients. At the same time, MWSW participants fought against their discouragements and exclusions through bounded strategies using: selective disclosure, peer solidarity, and NGO intermediation. Although such practices served to mitigate immediate harm, the women were also restricted by the structures that they sought to manage their situations. To capture this paradox, the thesis develops the concept of the exclusion–resistance feedback loop, which demonstrates how exclusion and resistance are not sequential but co-occurring processes that reinforce one another over time. The study makes three key contributions. Empirically, it offers an intersectional analysis of MWSWs' healthcare experiences in Thailand in a systematic manner that supplements the existing literature, which is predominantly centred on HIV/STD. Theoretically, it contributes to the practical use of intersectionality in health research and introduces my development of exclusion–resistance feedback loop as a model for understanding how exclusion and agency are co-constituted. Ultimately, this thesis argues that the universalist healthcare system in Thailand is diminished by women having to backdoor stratified access to services. Healthcare rights are theoretically recognised but unattainable in practice for people on the legal, labour, and social margins. Addressing this requires systemic transformation that dismantles communicative, symbolic, systemic, and hierarchical exclusions whilst embedding the capacities of peer and NGO networks into formal healthcare systems.
Beyond testimony: rethinking narrative, agency and trauma-informed practices in the UK asylum process through the lens of applied theatre
(The University of Edinburgh. College of Humamities and Social Sciences, 2026-05-18) Nakou, Sofia; Cowan, Sharon; McCartney, Nicola
This thesis explores how personal narratives – stories of the self – are shaped, held, and treated across two contrasting systems: the creative, dialogic spaces of Applied Theatre and the bureaucratic structures of the UK asylum process. Drawing on empirical research conducted through one-to-one creative narrative workshops with refugees and asylum seekers, the study investigates how participants articulate their identities, reflect on experiences, and express their hopes for the future within imaginative, collaborative settings. At the core of this project lies a critical interrogation of how institutional systems – particularly the asylum system – receive and respond to personal stories, and the extent to which these systems constrain narrative expression and, in doing so, the ability to truly respond to the questions they are being asked. In contrast, Applied Theatre offers culturally responsive, ethically engaged, trauma informed methods that can create space for nuanced, relational understandings of identity and lived experience to surface – both for participants and facilitators. The research is guided by two central questions: first, how do personal stories function and get treated within Applied Theatre practices, and how does this compare to their treatment within the UK asylum system? And secondly, the study asks what an interdisciplinary approach – grounded in the ethical, reflexive, trauma informed methodologies of Applied Theatre – might offer to the asylum process. In particular, it explores how theatre might inform more humane and contextually sensitive frameworks for engaging with individual narratives in bureaucratic settings. Through this interdisciplinary analysis, the thesis places Home Office policy and asylum procedures in conversation with the principles and practices of Applied Theatre. Though these systems often appear to operate in fundamentally different languages, both revolve around individuals sharing deeply personal, often painful, stories. By facilitating a dialogue between them, this work envisions the potential for more just, compassionate, and inclusive approaches to the treatment of personal narratives in asylum contexts.
Gratia Plena: the Catholic feminist possibilities of the Immaculate Conception dogma
(The University of Edinburgh. College of Humanities and Social Science. School of Divinity, 2026-05-18) Bradley, Barbara Fortune; Parvis, Sara; Grumett, David
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been an important role model for Catholic women for centuries. However, in second- and third-wave feminist Mariology, scholars like Tina Beattie and Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ argue that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (the belief that Mary was conceived without original sin) is an impediment to Mary and women’s relationship. Simultaneously, since at least the Middle Ages, Aristotelean biology has been influential on the Roman Catholic Church. Aristotle purported that men were synonymous with the active principle and women with the passive principle. This has been a major impediment to women’s place in the Church as scholars like Maryanne Cline Horowitz and Rosemary Radford Ruether argue. In this thesis I construct a positive formulation of the Immaculate Conception that frames Mary as full of grace [gratia plena] for the benefit of Catholic women facing the unfounded misogyny in Aristotelean biology such that it cannot be denied within the bounds of orthodox Catholic theology. I use a tripartite anthropology of mind, heart, and body (which I identified as the main areas of Aristotle’s biology) to develop this constructive theology. This thesis is an inter-disciplinary work and thus relies on a blend of different methods in scholarship. I use a feminist methodology like that of Johnson and Beattie and center Mary and women’s experiences in the thesis. I also draw significantly from the Thomistic tradition that focuses on grace [gratia] and human nature because – as Mary Daly argued – Thomas Aquinas is both a promoter of and the solution to Aristotelean biology. Inspired by the Thomistic Mariology of Édouard Hugon, OP and Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, I apply a Thomistic intellectual and emotional anthropology to Mary to emphasize women’s full humanity to contrast Aristotelean biology. I also use a literary-Biblical methodology as Johnson does and examine Biblical passages of Mary’s life to argue that immaculateness does not prevent her from living a fully human life. To illustrate these themes, I use works of art to demonstrate how traditional depictions of Mary should not be dismissed but rather are made new with a feminist lens. Chapter one frames Mary’s immaculate mind [nous/mens] as the seat of her will and intellect. I examine verses depicting her self-identity (Luke 1:46-55 and Acts 1:14;2:1-4), her pondering (Luke 2:19,33), and her making decisions (Luke 1:26-38 and John 2:1-11) to show that Mary is intellectually active in the salvific narrative. In chapter two I consider Mary’s immaculate heart [kardia/cor] as the seat her love and emotions, and I argue that Mary is neither overly emotional nor blandly emotionless. I examine Mary’s love alone (Luke 2:51), and then her love in relation to anger (Luke 2:48) and sorrow (Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27). In chapter three, I focus on Mary’s immaculate body as her physical self and demonstrate that she has a fully human body. I argue that Mary was conceived by sexual intercourse (Protoevangelium of James 2-4), that she had a painful labor (Isaiah 66:7, Revelation 12:1-2, and Genesis 3:16), that her hymen was torn while giving birth and is irrelevant to her virginity (Protoevangelium of James 20), and that she menstruated (Protoevangelium of James 8). In chapter four I argue that in the twentieth century, Aristotelean biology developed into romantic feminism as defined by Ruether. Building on the arguments outlined in the earlier chapters, I deconstruct recent misogynistic theologies about women’s minds, hearts, and bodies. Far from being an impediment to feminist Mariology, I demonstrate how the Immaculate Conception dismantles Aristotelean biology and its resulting problems for Mary and women.