Lene Juul Pedersen was awarded a M.Sc. in Agronomics in 1988 and a PhD in 1993 for her thesis concerning the effect of stress and social environment on oestrus in sows. Since then she has been employed at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, except for a short period (1995-1998) at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University. Her research has focused on the biological as well as ethological requirements of sows and their ability to adapt to the production environment. Special emphasis has been on the effect of the environment on the development of expedient social behavioural patterns, oestrus and maternal behaviour. The objective of her research is to increase the knowledge of how to design production environments for adult animals promoting behavioural patterns that consider the welfare of the animals as well as production and reproduction. Since 2002 Lene Juul Pedersen has mainly carried out research into the relations between maternal abilities and early piglet mortality with special emphasis on lactating sows kept in loose housing systems.
