Dr Howarth's PhD research focused on the validation of attention bias as a novel non-invasive method of welfare assessment in captive rhesus macaques. Attention bias looks at eye movements to emotional stimuli and, in humans, we know that these biases in attention reliably map onto physiological and self-reported measures of affect. The project aimed to validate attention bias by triangulation with established behavioural indices, contextual data, and physiological and genetic correlates. She is interested in expanding her research focus into other areas of captive and companion animal welfare including dog control measures in public spaces.