CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Phone (306) 667-7447
Email  Contact Murray

Dr. Murray Pettitt has been appointed as the new CEO of Prairie Swine Centre as of July 1, 2018. Murray has been part of the swine research community for the past 19 years, and was previously employed at Prairie Swine Centre (PSC) for 10 years, managing Contract Research from 2003-2009. During that time he grew the program’s size and capabilities, while being responsible for the business development as well as the design and implementation of customer-driven research.

Murray is from rural Manitoba and received his BSA in 1986 and his M.Sc. in animal reproduction in 1991 from the University of Manitoba.  After three years at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, he returned to agriculture to pursue research in boar sperm cryopreservation at the University of Guelph, receiving his Ph.D. in 1997. Murray then accepted a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ontario Veterinary College where he helped develop practical embryo transfer techniques in swine.

In 1999, he assumed the position of Assistant Manager – External Research Services (also known as Contract Research) at PSC. Subsequently he became the Research Scientist – External Research Services from 2003 – 2009 where he was responsible for leading this program conducting confidential, proprietary contract research on behalf of corporations, associations or individuals in the swine industry in a professional, business environment.

Since leaving PSC, Murray has been at the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan where he was responsible for managing a research program investigating markers of sperm function to identify the fertility potential of boars and bulls.

“It is like coming home – to be able to return to the Centre after 9 years pursuing my research interests in my area of specialization” notes Murray. “The position of CEO will enable me to further my interests in bringing science to agriculture, further strengthen our relationships with the pork industry and other researchers, and develop new relationships and collaborations in order to add to the long, successful history of Prairie Swine Centre’s service to the pork industry”.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. – University of Guelph, 1997.
• M.Sc. – Univesrity of Manitoba, 1991.
• BSA. – Unversity of Manitoba, 1986.

RESEARCH SCIENTIST, ENGINEERING

Phone (306) 667-7444
Email  Contact Bernardo

Dr. Predicala manages the Engineering Research Program at PSCI with the following goals: to address environmental sustainability issues associated with swine production and to optimize the physical environment in swine production facilities to enhance performance and reduce production cost. For the past 7 years, Dr. Predicala has secured more than C$1.7 million in extramural research funding for individual and collaborative projects mainly aimed to ensure health and safety of barn workers and pigs, control environmental emissions, and comply with applicable environmental and occupational regulations. During this period, he has supervised and coordinated the work of a team of Post-doctoral Fellows (2), Research Assistants (4), Research Technicians (3), Graduate Students (3 Ph.D. students, 4 M.Sc. students), and Undergraduate Student Assistants (4) in the implementation of project workplans. Dr. Predicala also holds concurrent appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. He is also actively engaged with professional societies, currently serving as an officer of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering, as member of various committees of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and as Associate Editor and reviewer for professional journals.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Kansas State University, 2003
• M.Eng., Asian Institute of Technology, 1995
• B.Sc., University of the Philippines Los Baños, 1990

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• President-elect (2012) – Canadian Society for Bioengineering (CSBE)
• Member – American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)
• Associate Editor – ASABE Journals

RESEARCH SCIENTIST, ETHOLOGY AND WELFARE

Phone (306) 667-7442
Email  Contact Jen-Yun

Dr. Jen-Yun Chou joined the Prairie Swine Centre in 2024 as the Research Scientist in Ethology and Welfare. Her background is multidisciplinary at the interface of applied animal behaviour, animal welfare and social science. Jen obtained her PhD degree in Clinical Veterinary Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in 2019 and holds an MA in Science, Technology and Society. She has experience working as an animal welfare advisor at an international non-profit organization and has conducted research at various research institutes across Europe and North America. Her research projects collaboratively explore issues surrounding ending piglet painful procedures and providing pigs with a better physical and social environment. She is also interested in subjects such as One Welfare, welfare at transport/slaughter and on-farm euthanasia.

Jen did a postdoctoral research project from 2020-2021 at the Swine Teaching and Research centre at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, focusing on sow housing in early gestation. She was also a Marie Skłodowska Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Pig Development Department, Teagasc and the Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria, investigating social behaviour and social network in pigs.

Jen has ongoing research collaborations with partners in the US, Europe and Taiwan, where she is from originally. Her goal is to show animal welfare can be beneficial and profitable for all stakeholders and to contribute to improving pig welfare globally.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. University of Edinburgh, 2019
• M.Sc. University of Edinburgh, 2015
• M.A. National Tsing Hua University, 2008
• B.A. National Taiwan University, 2002

AWARDS

• Early Career Researcher of the Year 2021, awarded by Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (2021)
• Awardee for the Teagasc Research Leaders 2025 Fellowship, co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 754380 (2020)
• Developing Countries Congress Attendance Fellowship for attending the 53rd Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE). Awarded by the Open Philanthropy Project (2019)
• The Wageningen Academic Award of early career competition at the 69th annual meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), Dubrovnik, Croatia (2018)

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

• International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE)
• Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)
• Animal Behavior Society (ABS)
• Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB)
• European Federation for Animal Science (EAAP)

SERVICE

• Animal Welfare – Welfare of Pigs section editor (2023 – present)
• Applied Animal Behaviour Science – Editorial Advisory Board (2021-present)
• Co-organiser of Animal Welfare Slack Workspace (2019 – present)
• Scientific committee for the 2024 Conference on the assessment of animal Welfare at Farm and group Level (WAFL)
• Member of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST-Action) CA21124 – LIFT: Lifting farm animal lives – laying the foundations for positive animal welfare (WG3: co-leader for on-farm technology and positive animal welfare; WG4: co-leader for website maintenance)
• Frontiers in Veterinary Science – Review Editor on the Editorial Board in Animal Behavior and Welfare section (2020-present)
• Reviewer – Transactions of the ASABE, Scientific Reports, Vet Record (2020-present)
• Research Grant application: The Canadian Poultry Research Council (2022)

RETIRED RESEARCH SCIENTIST - ETHOLOGY

Email Contact Jennifer

Jennifer has always had an interest in animal behaviour and grew up caring for the family pets and farm animals. Before starting her career in the swine industry, Jennifer lived in PEI and worked in research related to clinical chemistry, toxicology and human health. She completed a PhD at the University of Guelph in 2009, studying the relationship between pig temperament and behavior, stress physiology and pork quality in market pigs. At the Prairie Swine Centre she led an applied research program looking at issues related to pig behavior and welfare, including studies on the effects of long duration transport, gestation housing and management, sow lameness, pain control at castration, euthanasia, environmental enrichment for pigs and space allowances for weaner pigs. She retired in 2023. She lives with a collection of animals on a rolling half section near Hafford, SK.

ADJUNCT RESEARCH SCIENTIST - ETHOLOGY

Phone (306) 966-7151
Email Contact Yolande

Yolande is based at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, and is an adjunct member of staff at Prairie Swine Centre. Prior to joining the WCVM in January 2012, Yolande worked at the Prairie Swine Centre as a post-doctoral research associate with the ethology and welfare department. Yolande’s research focuses on the behaviour and welfare of farmed pigs and explores the interactions between management, pig behaviour, welfare and productivity, with a strong multidisciplinary and applied research approach.

https://wcvm.usask.ca/departments/lacs/lacs-people/yolande-seddon.php

EDUCATION

• September 2007- October 2011 Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: PhD titled ‘Development of improved disease monitoring tools and management strategies to promote health in finishing pigs.’
• 2005-2006 Writtle Agricultural College, Essex, UK: MSc in Animal Biology and Welfare
• 2002-2005 Myerscough Agricultural College, Lancashire, UK: BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour and Welfare

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)
• International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE)
• British Society of Animal Science (BSAS)
• The Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association (AWSELVA)

MANAGER, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Phone (306) 667-7439
Email  Contact Ken

Ken currently serves as the Manager of Information Services at the Prairie Swine Centre.  His position is one focused on extension, specifically focused on bringing research results to the Canadian pork industry.  Responsibilities include delivering communication programming through multiple forms including: print, personal, electronic and on-farm demonstration, in addition to developing and optimizing an economic model which estimates the economic benefit of adopting research to the producer.  Overall Ken has spent 20 years in the Canadian pork industry in the areas of research and commercial production, he is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, and continues to operate a grain and beef operation, with his family near Carmel, Saskatchewan.

EDUCATION

• BSA, University of Saskatchewan, 1995

MEMBERSHIPS

• P.Ag., Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists

AWARDS

• Ivor Hull Scholarship
• MacCrorie Scholarship

ASSISTANT MANAGER, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Phone (587) 778-6877
Email  Contact Miranda

Dr. Miranda Smit recently joined the Prairie Swine Centre as Assistant Manager – Knowledge Transfer and will be an integral part of the Centre’s Knowledge Transfer team.  Miranda’s background allows her to tackle the different research and extension projects head on.

Miranda was born and raised in the Netherlands, where she studied Animal Science (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) at the Wageningen University, also spending a year in France where she obtained a second M.Sc. degree in Agriculture. Miranda’s story of how she ended up in Canada and in the pork industry are connected to each other. While working on her Master’s degree in The Netherlands, she asked her supervisor to find an exchange student opportunity for her in Canada, as she had always dreamed of going there. Her supervisor, being a swine researcher himself, got her in touch with George Foxcroft at the University of Alberta and in 2006 she spent 4 months in Edmonton studying fetal programming.

After finishing her Master’s degree, she returned in 2007 to the University of Alberta to work as research technician at the Swine Research and Technology Centre (SRTC), during this time fell in love with pigs and Canada. She returned in 2008 to start her PhD. in pig reproduction under the  supervision of George Foxcroft. Her thesis focused on feeding omega-3 fatty acids to sows, as well as effects of low litter birth weight on postnatal growth performance. Since graduation she was employed with Alberta Agriculture and Eduardo Beltranena in the Monogastric Feed Research Group. During her time with Alberta Agriculture she wrote numerous magazine and journal articles on feeding alternative ingredients or low energy diets to nursery and grow-finish pigs. She also produced a wide variety of posters, abstracts, factsheets, radio interviews and presentations about her work.

In her off-time, Miranda enjoys hiking in the mountains, riding horses, dancing, traveling near and far, and learning new languages (currently working on Spanish).

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. University of Alberta, 2013
• M.Sc. École Supérieure d’Agriculture de Purpan (ESAP) and Wageningen University, 2007
• B.Sc.  Wageningen University, 2004

Awards

• 2010 Banff Pork Seminar student competition award, 1st prize
• 2012 R.O. Ball Young Scientist award, 1st prize

Service

• 2021 Banff Pork Seminar Advisory Committee member
• Reviewer for: Journal of Animal Science, Translational Animal Science, Poultry Science, Canadian Journal of Animal Science, and Theriogenology

MANAGER, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Phone (306) 667-7438
Email Contact Donna 

ASSISTANT MANAGER - CONTRACT RESEARCH

Phone (306) 667-7440
Email Contact Josi

MANAGER - OPERATIONS

Phone: (306) 667-7448
Email: Contact Tatjana 

MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR, FABRICATION & DESIGN SPECIALIST

Phone: (306) 667-7443
Email Contact John