Enhancing biosecurity in livestock production

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Alison Burrel

Health Psychologist

Alison Burrell is a chartered health psychologist at Animal Health Ireland. Her research centres around stakeholder engagement across animal health programmes (such as mastitis management and Johne’s disease) and behaviour change in the areas of antibiotic and antiparasitic use.

Alison qualified as a psychologist through the NHS Education for Scotland funded programme, designing and delivering 1-to-1 and group behaviour change interventions in a mental health setting and providing specialised communication training to healthcare professionals. Alison then worked as a post-doctoral researcher for Teagasc, Athenry on the safefood-funded project to develop behaviour change intervention recommendations addressing antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic use on farms in Ireland.

Alison joined Animal Health Ireland in June 2021 and is now involved in the delivery of behaviour change and motivational interviewing training for veterinary practitioners and farm advisors to support herd health planning consults and shared decision-making around preventative animal medicine.