During a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) from March to June 2026, Àngela Ramon Pérez from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) visited the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni), where she was hosted by Assoc. Prof. Johannes Baumgartner and Dr Christina Pfeiffer under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Loup Rault.
The STSM focused on the use of computer vision technologies to identify behavioural indicators of Positive Animal Welfare in weaned pigs. During the stay, Àngela became familiar with the experimental facilities, animal management procedures and recording systems used by the host group. She also visited the experimental farm and contributed to planning the pens and monitoring systems for the upcoming pig study.
A substantial part of the stay was dedicated to developing a behavioural ethogram for weaned pigs. Based on a literature review and discussions with the host researchers, behaviours related to positive welfare were selected and defined, including social interactions, exploration and behavioural synchronisation. This ethogram provided the basis for the subsequent annotation of these behaviours in video recordings and for the future development and validation of artificial intelligence algorithms for automated behavioural detection.
Àngela also received an introductory training session on the BORIS behavioural annotation software, delivered by Janina Weißenborn. Following this training, she annotated selected behaviours in video recordings, contributing to the creation of a labelled dataset for the future training and validation of artificial intelligence algorithms.
Throughout the stay, Àngela participated in research seminars, regular group meetings and scientific discussions with researchers and PhD students on animal behaviour, animal welfare and Precision Livestock Farming. She also attended lectures on the application of sensors and computer vision to automated livestock behaviour and welfare monitoring. In addition, she visited several commercial pig farms, gaining practical insight into organic pig production systems and current animal management and welfare practices.
The stay strengthened her skills in behavioural annotation, computer vision and artificial intelligence, while promoting scientific exchange between the two institutions.
