I am a senior lecturer in veterinary science education and explore how we educate people in STEMM fields. My main interest is in research methodology, and I teach in this area at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I am primarily a methodologist, and work interdisciplinarily with an interest in metascience, so my research interests are broad. I have research interests in widening participation in higher education, technology enhanced learning, veterinary identity, and human-animal relationships in digital spaces, but I will collaborate on just about anything if there's an interesting question about how it should measured!

I’m very passionate about public engagement with science and blog regularly at jillymackay.com. I have also written a popular science book on animal personality. I participate in many science festivals and am happy to do guest spots with student groups or special interest groups when asked.

Please feel free to contact me with any queries.  

My research interests are:

Metascience; gender representation in science; the impact of open science philosophies on research

Educational research; Digital education (effectiveness, utilisation and effects on experience); widening participation; student learning; student experience; staff teaching experience; effective public engagement; generative Artificial Intelligence impact on education.

Human-Animal Relationships; animal support; companion animal welfare; animal welfare education; human behaviour change for animal welfare.

I have experience using the following research methodologies:

Semi Structured Interviews; Focus Groups; Structured Interviews; Surveys; Questionnaires; Ethograms; Animal Welfare Assessment; Document Analysis; Reflexive Thematic Analysis; Constructionist Grounded Theory; Social Identity Theory; Critical Theory; Feminist Theory; Generalised Linear Modelling; Non Parametric Statistics; Parametric Statistics; Bayesian Modelling

I am based within the VMED (Veterinary Medical Education) research group. We have a wide remit looking at many aspects of veterinary education including student support and wellbeing, feedback and assessment and e-learning.

I am also part of the Animal Welfare Centre at the R(D)SVS where I am Programme Director for the International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law MSc, and explore animal welfare research.

I am associated with Global Agriculture and Food Systems which aims to support decision making to transform agri-food systems and food security.

Clinical Animal Behaviour Online MSc

• Principles of Animal Behaviour

• Anthrozoology

 International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law Online MSc

• Research Methods and Data Analysis

• Production Animal Welfare

• Captive and Free Ranging Wild Animal Welfare
• International Animal Welfare Science

Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare MSc

• Scientific Methodology

Programme Director International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law Msc

Course leader: Research Methods and Data Analysis (International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law Online MSc)

R(D)SVS Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement

I run a public engagement blog: https://jillymackay.com

I produce a number of media resources as open educational resources. My OER playlist on Media Hopper can be found here. I also have a number of Animal Behaviour and Welfare Concepts and Frequently Asked Questions in research methods on Media Hopper.

I also teach within: 

• Massive Open Online Course - Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Coursera
• Massive Open Online Course - Digital Footprint, Coursera [Sample Lecture on media hopper]