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KU Leuven Students Explore Innovation at ILVO

Bridging Theory and Practice in Modern Livestock Research

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Master’s students enrolled on the Sustainable Precision Livestock Farming course at KU Leuven visited the ILVO research facilities in Merelbeke-Melle, Belgium. There, they gained first-hand insight into the technological and scientific advances that are shaping the future of livestock farming.

During the visit, the students were introduced to the major challenges currently facing the livestock sector, ranging from animal welfare to environmental impact, and learnt how ILVO’s research is helping to address these issues. The programme showcased several ongoing projects, including new approaches for tracking individual pigs throughout the production chain, measuring emissions across different barn systems and developing digital representations, or ‘digital twins’, of pigs to support health and management decisions. The group also discovered how heat stress in goats can be detected using innovative, camera-based systems.

A particular highlight was an introduction to the European aWISH project, presented by project partner Kenny Van Langeveld. This initiative focuses on improving the welfare of fattening pigs and broilers, while also enhancing productivity and sustainability by integrating data, sensors and artificial intelligence.

By linking classroom knowledge to real-world applications, the visit offered students a valuable insight into how scientific research and technological innovation are driving practical solutions in modern livestock production. This strengthened their understanding of how precision livestock farming can support a more sustainable and animal-friendly sector.

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1. aWISH Introduction

We would like to invite you to participate in the aWISH Expert Panel, as we believe that your experience and knowledge will contribute greatly to a key consultation body of the project. aWISH is a 4-year project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme. Before you decide to participate in the aWISH Expert Panel, please take the time to read this document carefully to understand what your involvement will be in our project’s activity. If there is anything you do not understand, please feel free to ask questions.

1.1 What is the aWISH project about?

In the EU, a challenge that still remains is to reconcile the social and moral demand for a high level of animal welfare with other pillars of sustainable livestock production. Indeed, 82% of Europeans believe that farm animals should be better protected than they currently are. A broad definition of animal welfare refers to the feelings and physical well-being of an individual animal. Broilers and pigs are the farm animals EU citizens care most about, and they are also the most important meat-producing animals in the EU and worldwide. Both pigs and broilers have significant welfare problems at all stages of production (on-farm, loading and transport, unloading and slaughter), leading a growing number of citizens to question the social license to produce. Ambitious and effective, but also practical and efficient solutions are needed. This is where the aWISH project comes in to fill this gap! The aim of aWISH is to develop and provide a cost-effective solution for assessing and improving the welfare of meat-producing livestock in Europe. The aWISH solution is based on the automatic monitoring of animal-related indicators at slaughter. The necessary technologies will also be developed to collect complementary data on farm or during transport. Pilot and development activities will be carried out in 6 broiler and fattening pig production chains across Europe using a lean multi-actor approach to test and validate the project results. A catalogue of animal welfare indicators will disseminate all validated indicators and standardised data collection methods. Best practice guides will be developed to improve key aspects of animal welfare in pigs and broilers and to help external stakeholders use aWISH technologies and tools. In this context, the aWISH project will set up expert panels that will be composed of representatives of actors from the entire farm to fork value chain across the EU. The expert panels will have the function to retrieve and share feedback on technology, processes, farming practices, industry, sector regulation and markets, as well as society and perceptions. In this way, stakeholder participation in expert panels could help initiate interdisciplinary dialogue, promote interaction with target groups and associations, and strengthen trust between different actors.

2. Useful Information

2.1 Is my participation voluntary and what does it involve?

Your participation in the aWISH project is entirely voluntary. If you decide to participate in an aWISH activity, we will ask you to sign an Informed Consent Form to collect and process your data. The project will last 48 months, but you will only participate for as long as you wish.

2.2 Purpose of personal data collection

As mentioned above, the expert panel will have the function to retrieve and share feedback on technology, processes, farming practices, industry, sector regulation and markets, as well as society and perceptions. In order to do this effectively, we need to process some of your personal data:
  • Your contact information
  • Demographic information (age, gender, country of origin)
  • Professional information (where do you work, what position do you hold, what is your area of expertise)
  • Personal opinions on the subject

2.3 What we will do with your data

The information you provide is confidential. Your consent form will be kept separate from the observations collected during the course of the project activity. We will share your data with other aWISH project partners involved in the data analysis and reporting process. Once the data is analysed, a report of the findings may be submitted for publication. The project's deliverables that will be derived by this activity will not include your personal data or any other information that could identify you. The results of this project activity may also be shared with representatives of the European Union (e.g. the Project Officer evaluating the project's or the reviewing EU agencies). Only broad trends will be reported and it will not be possible to identify any individuals.

3. Access, deletion of information or withdrawal of consent

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to request to: (i) provide you with a copy of your data; (ii) correct your data if you believe they are inaccurate; (iii) erase your data; (iv) restrict or stop processing your data; or (v) provide your data in an appropriate format and transfer them to another organisation. In addition, you may withdraw your consent and therefore your participation at any time without consequence. Anonymous data already collected will be used as we cannot trace the information back to you. No further data will be collected or other procedures carried out in relation to your information. If you wish to have the personal data we hold checked, amended, corrected or deleted, or if you wish to withdraw your consent, you can contact the responsible partner listed below.

4. Contact Information

Partner name: WHITE RESEARCH SRL
e-mail: akyriakidis@white-research.eu

5. Informed Consent Form

I confirm that I understand that by ticking each box below I am consenting to this element of the study. I understand that it will be assumed that unticked boxes mean that I DO NOT consent to that part of the study. I also understand that by not giving consent for any of the elements, I may be deemed ineligible for participating in this project’s activity.
 

6. Declaration of Acceptance

I, the undersigned
acknowledge that I have read and agree to be bound by the aWISH Expert Panel Terms of Reference. I agree to participate in the aWISH Expert Panel in my individual capacity and, as such, may not assign or be substituted for any other person to perform the work without prior written agreement with the aWISH Expert Panel Consortium. I agree not to disclose any information given in the course of the Expert Panel’s work unless the aWISH Consortium agrees to releases me from this obligation, and to respects the confidentiality requirements. I declare that I fully and unconditionally accept my appointment as an aWISH Expert Panel member as described in the Terms of Reference. I agree that any contribution I make as an aWISH Expert Panel member may be used by the aWISH consortium for reporting purposes or to align project activities to the needs of relevant stakeholders. I consent to the processing of my personal data necessary for my participation in the aWISH Expert Panel.

Welcome to the awISH Project website

Before we dig in we would like to know a little more about you. Group that describes you the best is: