Course information
Improve the lives of animals
We’ll support you to design and deliver an impactful research project, focused on an external setting, such as your workplace, or utilising the unique resources available on our 360-hectare campus.
Our students uncover invaluable new knowledge that impacts real-world practice in livestock behaviour, welfare, production, nutrition, reproduction and biomechanics.
Work with experts in the field
You’ll be supported by research-active lecturers, professors and industry professionals from Hartpury and our extensive networks. These include partnerships with national governing bodies, LEAF Farms, NAF, NFU, RSPCA and NSA.
Most of our learning and research facilities are also home to successful businesses, which means you’ll have access to real-world research subjects, industry experts and technologies.
Advance your studies your way
This course is ideal for those keen to progress a specific area of their professional practice. A mix of learning pathways, including campus and online delivery, will help you to design your timetable around other commitments.
Academic
2:1 honours degree in a relevant subject. Students with 2:2 and relevant experience will be considered on a case by case basis.
Non-academic
Students with non-relevant qualifications but with sufficient work experience or professional experience will be considered on an individual basis.
International
In addition to the academic qualification an IELTS 6.5 or equivalent is required.
Please contact us for further information.
Professional practice
Some optional modules require you to reflect on your current professional practice, so if you’re currently working in a professional role (voluntary, paid, full or part-time), this will be an ideal supplement to your studies.
Research in commercial environments
You may want to progress your research in an external environment, but you may also be keen to make the most of our own commercial activities on campus. These include our farm and Agri-Tech Centre, equine and canine therapy centres, and equine events centre.
We have strong industry partnerships across all subject areas that students can utilise and benefit from for their research. These include partnerships with national governing bodies, LEAF Farms, NAF, NFU, RSPCA and NSA.
Graduate destinations
Studying a Masters in Research degree provides you with the necessary skills to develop you career in a specific direction of travel or for PhD studies. It will also support you to advance your own professional aspirations – contemporary research experience will place you at the forefront of knowledge within your discipline.
We're committed to supporting you to fulfil your unique potential while you're here so that you can achieve your personal and professional goals.
Duration
One year, full-time
You can study this qualification full-time and complete in one year.
Two-three years, part-time
We offer part-time options to help students to manage their studies alongside other commitments. These options can be tailored to suit your needs, enabling you to complete your qualification in two or three years. Please enquire for further details.
Your support network
You'll benefit from a strong support network from day one. This will range from your lecturers, supervisors and personal tutor to our specialist academic (Achievement and Success Centre), employability (Innovation, Careers and Enterprise) and wellbeing teams.
Course information
Overview
Improve the lives of animals
We’ll support you to design and deliver an impactful research project, focused on an external setting, such as your workplace, or utilising the unique resources available on our 360-hectare campus.
Our students uncover invaluable new knowledge that impacts real-world practice in livestock behaviour, welfare, production, nutrition, reproduction and biomechanics.
Work with experts in the field
You’ll be supported by research-active lecturers, professors and industry professionals from Hartpury and our extensive networks. These include partnerships with national governing bodies, LEAF Farms, NAF, NFU, RSPCA and NSA.
Most of our learning and research facilities are also home to successful businesses, which means you’ll have access to real-world research subjects, industry experts and technologies.
Advance your studies your way
This course is ideal for those keen to progress a specific area of their professional practice. A mix of learning pathways, including campus and online delivery, will help you to design your timetable around other commitments.
Entry requirements
Academic
2:1 honours degree in a relevant subject. Students with 2:2 and relevant experience will be considered on a case by case basis.
Non-academic
Students with non-relevant qualifications but with sufficient work experience or professional experience will be considered on an individual basis.
International
In addition to the academic qualification an IELTS 6.5 or equivalent is required.
Please contact us for further information.
Employability
Professional practice
Some optional modules require you to reflect on your current professional practice, so if you’re currently working in a professional role (voluntary, paid, full or part-time), this will be an ideal supplement to your studies.
Research in commercial environments
You may want to progress your research in an external environment, but you may also be keen to make the most of our own commercial activities on campus. These include our farm and Agri-Tech Centre, equine and canine therapy centres, and equine events centre.
We have strong industry partnerships across all subject areas that students can utilise and benefit from for their research. These include partnerships with national governing bodies, LEAF Farms, NAF, NFU, RSPCA and NSA.
Graduate destinations
Studying a Masters in Research degree provides you with the necessary skills to develop you career in a specific direction of travel or for PhD studies. It will also support you to advance your own professional aspirations – contemporary research experience will place you at the forefront of knowledge within your discipline.
How you'll study
We're committed to supporting you to fulfil your unique potential while you're here so that you can achieve your personal and professional goals.
Duration
One year, full-time
You can study this qualification full-time and complete in one year.
Two-three years, part-time
We offer part-time options to help students to manage their studies alongside other commitments. These options can be tailored to suit your needs, enabling you to complete your qualification in two or three years. Please enquire for further details.
Your support network
You'll benefit from a strong support network from day one. This will range from your lecturers, supervisors and personal tutor to our specialist academic (Achievement and Success Centre), employability (Innovation, Careers and Enterprise) and wellbeing teams.
Qualification and modules
This degree has been designed to equip you with advanced research expertise in the field of animal science (livestock) through taught lectures, seminars and one-to-one sessions. You’ll develop new theoretical and practical expertise to help progress your studies and career, as well as advance future scientific research and real-world practice.
You’ll be equipped with the skills required for critical evaluation of research, effective research design and accurate statistical analysis, allowing you to apply current scientific thinking to your specific research topic, which you’ll conduct in your own time alongside your learning.
You will undertake core modules focused on research including a personalised research project focusing on an aspect of livestock production or livestock science, animal welfare and sustainability. This will enable you to advance new knowledge to help shape your research and professional practice.
You’ll be encouraged to attend industry conferences and familiarise yourself with academic journals, with opportunities to present and publish your research.
Below you’ll find the compulsory modules for this course. You’ll also be able to choose from a subject-specific optional module from our diverse specialist portfolio within the animal, agriculture and equine departments to suit your interests and career goals. Optional modules change each year in line with student, industry and research demands.
Compulsory modules
Extended Postgraduate Research Project (90 credits)
Develop and undertake a significant research project of your choosing on a topic that must be related to livestock animal science.
The Research Process (15 credits)
Discuss research methodologies and applications, as well as strengths, weaknesses and limitations of different methods.
Applied Research Practice (30 credits)
Explore literature, advanced research methodologies and data analysis aligned to your area of specific interest, leading to the design, completion and write up of a preliminary research project. Dissemination of research outputs will also be covered to develop your scientific communication skills.
Applied Animal Welfare Assessment (15 credits)
Bring together your understanding of ethical frameworks, animal welfare science, and animal behaviour measurement. You will then be able to navigate the complexities of assessing livestock welfare in the real world
Contemporary Issues in Animal Welfare Science (15 credits)
Analyse contemporary areas of welfare concern including evidence for sentience and positive welfare states. Explore appropriate solutions to overcoming the barriers to improving animal welfare in the real world.
Sustainable Resource Management in Land-Based Industries (15 credits)
Focus your attention on the importance of sustainable resource management within industry to enable you to effectively measure the capacity and efficient use of critical resources (natural, manufactured and human). This will help you to balance resource supply / demand, maintain control over sustainable resource utilisation and improve cost efficiency to ensure business viability.
Qualification and modules
MRes degree
This degree has been designed to equip you with advanced research expertise in the field of animal science (livestock) through taught lectures, seminars and one-to-one sessions. You’ll develop new theoretical and practical expertise to help progress your studies and career, as well as advance future scientific research and real-world practice.
You’ll be equipped with the skills required for critical evaluation of research, effective research design and accurate statistical analysis, allowing you to apply current scientific thinking to your specific research topic, which you’ll conduct in your own time alongside your learning.
You will undertake core modules focused on research including a personalised research project focusing on an aspect of livestock production or livestock science, animal welfare and sustainability. This will enable you to advance new knowledge to help shape your research and professional practice.
You’ll be encouraged to attend industry conferences and familiarise yourself with academic journals, with opportunities to present and publish your research.
Modules
Below you’ll find the compulsory modules for this course. You’ll also be able to choose from a subject-specific optional module from our diverse specialist portfolio within the animal, agriculture and equine departments to suit your interests and career goals. Optional modules change each year in line with student, industry and research demands.
Compulsory modules
Extended Postgraduate Research Project (90 credits)
Develop and undertake a significant research project of your choosing on a topic that must be related to livestock animal science.
The Research Process (15 credits)
Discuss research methodologies and applications, as well as strengths, weaknesses and limitations of different methods.
Applied Research Practice (30 credits)
Explore literature, advanced research methodologies and data analysis aligned to your area of specific interest, leading to the design, completion and write up of a preliminary research project. Dissemination of research outputs will also be covered to develop your scientific communication skills.
Applied Animal Welfare Assessment (15 credits)
Bring together your understanding of ethical frameworks, animal welfare science, and animal behaviour measurement. You will then be able to navigate the complexities of assessing livestock welfare in the real world
Contemporary Issues in Animal Welfare Science (15 credits)
Analyse contemporary areas of welfare concern including evidence for sentience and positive welfare states. Explore appropriate solutions to overcoming the barriers to improving animal welfare in the real world.
Sustainable Resource Management in Land-Based Industries (15 credits)
Focus your attention on the importance of sustainable resource management within industry to enable you to effectively measure the capacity and efficient use of critical resources (natural, manufactured and human). This will help you to balance resource supply / demand, maintain control over sustainable resource utilisation and improve cost efficiency to ensure business viability.
The modules contain a mixture of scheduled learning – lectures, workshops and practical sessions – alongside independent learning. Students are expected to dedicate at least two to three hours of independent study per contact hour.
The course is taught in English.
| Contact learning | Placement learning | Independent learning | |
| MRes degree | 7% | 0% | 93% |
Teaching contact time and method will vary depending on the modules that you are studying.
You’ll be assessed through a mixture of written, practical and oral exams, coursework and production of research reports. Many of the modules will be marked based on a mixture of assessment types, whilst others will be based solely on one type of assessment. The type of assessment may vary depending on which subject-specific optional module you select.
| Written exam | Practical exam | Coursework | |
| MRes degree | 0% | 14% | 86% |
This course is made up of three teaching blocks. Semesters normally consist of 12 weeks of scheduled teaching and then assessment weeks, with an overview below:
- The majority of modules are offered via on-site and online learning, incorporating a mixture of interactive campus-based and online sessions, alongside independent research.
- Learning is a mixture of taught, peer to per and independent learning apart from the research process which is delivered weekly through online sessions and drop ins in semester one.
- Applied Research Practice and Extended Postgraduate Dissertation are delivered primarily through one-to-one meetings with your supervisor alongside your research activities. Depending upon your area of research focus this could be time spent on-campus, with our animal and agriculture facilities, or at home
Please visit our student finance page for information on tuition fees and student loans, as well as non-repayable grants, bursaries and scholarships, eligible to different groups, to support with study costs.
MRes Bursary
You may be eligible for a £1,000 bursary to support your research project. Please visit our finance page for more details.
Extra costs
Below you'll find extra costs associated with studying this course, as well as costs associated with living and extra-curricular activities that might be of interest.
Clothing and footwear:
You may need to purchase appropriate clothing and footwear for the applied sessions on the farm, visits to industry and research activities.
Hartpury University branded clothing is also available through our online shop, for those who wish to purchase it. However, this is not essential.
Accommodation and living costs
Please visit our student accommodation page for details.
For further details about this course, including the programme specification and module descriptions, please visit our document library.
It's a good idea to think about fees and funding around your course as early as you can. We can help you to understand and take control of your finances. Here’s everything you need to know at a glance.
Our specialist facilities match our specialist nature. Students benefit from access to some of the most advanced facilities in the world at an educational institution.
Top 20
We're a top 20 UK university for postgraduate teaching, engagement, assessment, organisation and support (PTES 2023).
World leading
Our research has been recognised as 'world-leading' and 'internationally excellent' (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
Day's passion for farm animal behaviour and welfare gave her the opportunity to carry out postdoctoral, teaching and research experiences in Brazil, Canada, Spain, Republic of Ireland, Chile and United Kingdom. In these experiences, she developed and managed research projects involving different farm animal species, including sheep, pigs and cattle, while using interdisciplinary approaches to improve the life of food-producing animals and to improve the sustainability of livestock production systems.
Her main research interests centre around application of animal behaviour to improve animal welfare and to evaluate the influence of the environment and management on farm animal behaviour and welfare.
Day Teixeira, Senior Lecturer (Research) in Animal Science
Day's passion for farm animal behaviour and welfare gave her the opportunity to carry out postdoctoral, teaching and research experiences in Brazil, Canada, Spain, Republic of Ireland, Chile and United Kingdom. In these experiences, she developed and managed research projects involving different farm animal species, including sheep, pigs and cattle, while using interdisciplinary approaches to improve the life of food-producing animals and to improve the sustainability of livestock production systems.
Her main research interests centre around application of animal behaviour to improve animal welfare and to evaluate the influence of the environment and management on farm animal behaviour and welfare.
Day Teixeira, Senior Lecturer (Research) in Animal Science
Lisa specialises in zoonotic diseases in animals and teaches across all levels of undergraduate provision. She leads modules including Pathology, Microbiology, Animal Disease and Epidemiology. Her current research focuses on the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter species and she has an interest in host-pathogen interactions including the immune response, interventions particularly dietary additives as a method of control, extra-intestinal spread and whether or not Campylobacter is a commensal or pathogen of broiler chickens. She also has an interest in the gut health of chickens and many other animals and microbial animal diseases.
Lisa Williams, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science
Lisa specialises in zoonotic diseases in animals and teaches across all levels of undergraduate provision. She leads modules including Pathology, Microbiology, Animal Disease and Epidemiology. Her current research focuses on the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter species and she has an interest in host-pathogen interactions including the immune response, interventions particularly dietary additives as a method of control, extra-intestinal spread and whether or not Campylobacter is a commensal or pathogen of broiler chickens. She also has an interest in the gut health of chickens and many other animals and microbial animal diseases.
Lisa Williams, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science
Important information
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information, however our programmes are reviewed and developed regularly. Changes or cancellation of courses may be necessary to ensure alignment with emerging employment areas, to comply with accrediting body requirements, revisions to subject benchmark statements or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make necessary changes and will notify all offer-holders of changes as and when they occur.
Related courses
MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare (MSc, Postgraduate Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate)
This exciting online postgraduate degree has been designed to meet emerging animal welfare challenges linked to the UK legal system. You’ll apply theory to practice in real-world settings, enabling you to progress into a management role.
MSc Animal Welfare, Policy and Legislation
This exciting online postgraduate degree has been designed to meet emerging animal welfare challenges linked to the UK legal system. You’ll apply theory to practice in real-world settings, enabling you to progress into a management role.
MRes Animal Science
Influence industry practice and advance your own expertise through impactful research in an area of animal science you’re passionate about. You’ll apply theory to practice in real-world settings, with access to academic expertise, advanced scientific equipment and extensive research subjects.
Our partners & accreditations
