For Researchers
Mellorater is being developed for use in all species in captive or managed environments, to allow online collection and storage of anonymous data.
At this stage, the app is in development and pilot testing. In future, the app will collect data on animals’ life-worlds but also on how they are reported by the guardians of different species and the same species in different contexts.
Data collected using the Mellorater are gathered under the approval of the University of New England Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval number HE22-136). They are anonymised. The primary purpose of the approved research is to reveal any variability in responses to the 18 fundamental animal care questions that associates with the species of animal being reported.
Mellorater © 2024 by William Billingsley, Bidda Jones, Paul McGreevy, Cristina Wilkins is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
If you’re interested in collaborating or using Mellorater in your next research project, please contact the Mellorater Team.
Read More
Our recent peer-reviewed article, “Introducing the Mellorater—The Five Domains Model in a Welfare Monitoring App for Animal Guardians” (published in Animals 2024), outlines the concept behind the app, the Five Domains framework it builds upon, and the goals of our current pilot testing.
The article explains how Mellorater uses reflective self-reporting to capture guardians’ perspectives on animal nutrition, environment, health, and behavioural interactions, and why this approach has potential to generate valuable welfare insights across species.