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Biography
Sarah Freeman graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1994. Following a year working in mixed practice in Suffolk, she returned to the Royal Veterinary College in 1995 as a postgraduate student in the Equine Hospital. She obtained a PhD in equine anaesthesia, the RCVS Certificates in Veterinary Anaesthesia, Veterinary Radiology and Equine Soft Tissue Surgery. She became a lecturer in Equine Surgery at the Royal Veterinary College in 1999, and became a Member of the Institute of Teaching and Learning in 2002. Between 2002 and 2005, Sarah was self-employed undertaking consultancy veterinary education and clinical work. She became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2005. She joined the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham in 2005, and was involved in much of the early planning and delivery of the new curriculum.
Current role at Nottingham includes undergraduate teaching in Yrs 1-5, and research based around clinical disease (equine colic, wounds and critical decision-making, and canine reproduction), undergraduate education and human-animal interaction.
Sarah was awarded a personal Chair in 2014, and is a Professor of Veterinary Surgery at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. She was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2017 for meritorious contributions to clinical practice, and won the RCVS Impact award in 2019 for her work within the REACT colic campaign.
Expertise Summary
Current role at Nottingham includes teaching, research and clinical work.
Sarah Freeman is a Professor in Veterinary Surgery at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. She holds RCVS Certificates in Equine Soft Tissue Surgery, Veterinary Anaesthesia and Radiology, and the European Diploma in Large Animal Surgery.
Sarah primarily teaches in Musculoskeletal 2 (Year 4 module), and Musculoskeletal 1 (Year 1 module), but also contributes to teaching and assessment in other years and modules. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and was awarded an Individual Lord Dearing Award for Teaching and Learning in 2007 and in 2013, and Team Lord Dearing Awards in 2021 and 2024.
Research interests are centred around clinical disease and welfare in horses and dogs. Sarah currently supervises two postdoctoral researchers Amelia Cameron and Freya Rooke, 2 PhD students Anna Heritage and Martyna Jankowska, and two MRes students Jo Dwyer and Elise Rodden.
Sarah leads the Nottingham Equine Colic Project. This research group has used a co-production methodology to work with vets and horse owners to generate new evidence and recommendations on the recognition and assessment of colic (funded by World Horse Welfare). The project team has collaborated with the British Horse Society to produce the 'React now to beat colic' campaign, a highly successful evidence-based equine health initiative to help horse owners with the early recognition of colic www.bhs.org.uk/welfare-and-care/colic, which won the Veterinary Record Evidence award in 2017. The research group has also developed educational materials on colic specifically for veterinary surgeons and practices (www.beva.org.uk/Guidance-and-Resources/Practice-Managers) and for undergraduate veterinary and equine students (www.worldhorsewelfare.org/equine-colic-form). The Colic Champions scheme was launched with The British Horse Society in 2018, and currently has 88 veterinary practices signed up as champions (www.bhs.org.uk/our-work/welfare/our-campaigns/react/vet-react-colic-champions). Colic awareness week runs annually with The British Horse Society to help raise awareness of this campaign.
A new initiative, The Equine Wound project was launched in 2018 in collaboration with The British Horse Society, and is starting a similar process for wounds in horses. This has completed evidence reviews, collected data on injuries in horses (www.bhs.org.uk/our-work/welfare/wounds-project), held workshops and focus groups with vets and owners to identify priorities, and PhD student Anna Heritage is currently trialling new resources which will underpin a new educational campaign.
We are also currently trialing at end-of-life decision-making tools to help vets and owners with critical decision-making in the horse. This continues the work done during Amelia Cameron's PhD funded by Horse Trust, and the implementation trial is now led by Amelia, with funding for a two year Fellowship from Morris Animal Foundation.
We have worked extensively with World Horse Welfare on a range of UK and international based projects. Jess Burridge has recently completed a PhD developing an educational intervention for colic in working equids in Cololmbia. Currently, post-doc researcher Freya Rooke is leading a project to refine and validate a working equid welfare assessment tool, funded by World Horse Welfare.
The latest research to start is working with VetVision AI to develop computer vision AI monitoring of stabled horses, with Martyna Jankowska funded through an AI DTC PhD studentship.
Previous research has encompassed a broad range of methodologies, including both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Current and previous collaborations have included the School of Education and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (University of Nottingham), the Royal Veterinary College (University of London), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (University of Calgary), Hong Kong Jockey Club, the British Horse Racing Authority and the NCARE team at Nottingham (www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/ncare). Sarah is involved in publication and grant reviews for a number of journals and charities. She is part of the Equine Veterinary Journal Study Design and Data Analysis Board, and is a member of the organising Committee for the International Colic Symposium.
Research Summary
Sarah's research interests are in welfare and clinical disease .
She is currently supervising Masters research studentships on:
Castration complications in the horse - Elise Rodden
Analgesia in the horse - Adam Redpath
Weaning methods in the horse - Jo Dwyer
Wounds in the horse - Hannah Cunningham
PhD studentships:
Educational resources for wound management in horses: Anna Heritage
Computer vision AI analysis of stabled horses behaviour: Martyna Jankowska
Postdoctoral researchers:
End-of-life decision-making in the horse - Amelia Cameron
Refinement and validation of a working equid welfare assessment tool - Freya Rooke
Past Research
Previous research has been on equine anaesthesia and sedation, the use of abdominal ultrasound in diagnosis and prevention of colic in the horse, nutrition, obesity and musculoskeletal disease in the horse.
Completed PhD students:
Liz Mossop. Defining and Teaching Veterinary Professionalism. 2012
Abigail Clutterbuck. Nutritional targeting of inflammatory pathways and catabolic mediators involved in equine osteoarthritis 2013
Sarah Williams. The effect of management regimes on large intestinal motility in the horse. 2012
Claire Mann. An ethnographic study of the student experience of making meaning and identity through a new Veterinary curriculum 2013
Kate Cobb. The impact of assessment on the constructive alignment of a modern veterinary curriculum. 2014
Laila Curtis. Developing evidence on the primary case presentation and assessment of acute abdominal pain (colic) in the horse 2016
Claire Vinten. The development of clinical reasoning in veterinary students 2016
C Whelan. Causes and impact of premature retirement of guide dogs - the guide dog owner's perspective. 2017
Erica Gummery. An investigation into the impact of anatomy teaching in the veterinary curriculum through the perceptions of students and teaching staff 2018
Adelle Bowden. Maximising the impact of evidence-based medicine on equine health and welfare 2018
Purba Islam. Effects of resveratrol and its metabolite piceatannol on equine osteoarthritis using an explant cartilage model. 2019
Katie Lightfoot. Building a 'toolkit' for change: Evaluation of horse owner behaviour and knowledge transfer in response to an educational campaign. 2020
Caroline Quarmby. Investigation into risk factors for overweight status and the use of behaviour change interventions for weight management in dogs. 2022
Freya Rooke. Excellence is expected : quality monitoring and improvement in veterinary medicine. 2023
Amelia Cameron. Let's talk about euthanasia: developing a shared decision-making guide to support health and end-of-life care decisions in the horse. 2024
Jess Burridge. Using human behaviour change interventions to improve the welfare of working equids in Colombia. 2024
Rachel Moxon. A prospective cohort study to investigate the impact of neutering bitches prepubertally or post-pubertally. 2024
Completed Masters students:
Hilary Audretsch. Premature Retirement in Guide Dogs: Behavioural Reasons for Withdrawal 2013
Daisy Jones. Understanding why guide dogs fail to meet their predicted qualification outcomes. 2016
Rafa Azola. Retrospective study of ultrasonographic features of superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries in 469 Thoroughbred racehorses in Hong Kong, and their relationship to outcome. 2016
Isabella Wild. Disseminating evidence to equine practitioners 2017
Harriet Clough. Exploring the Horse-Human Relationship 2018
Richard Birnie. An owner questionnaire and prospective cohort study on equine wounds and their management. 2021
Therese de Souza. Investigating factors that affect survival of horses following treatment for synovial sepsis. MVM thesis. 2023