Vivi Aarestrup Moustsen has been focusing on research and development of housing of lactating sows at the Danish Pig Research Centre (PRC) since 2001. She is responsible for the PRC’s activities regarding R&D systems for loose housed farrowing and lactating sows with an annual budget of about 4 million Danish crowns (€536,000). In addition, she is involved in projects regarding large litters, piglet survival and nurse sows. Aarestrup Moustsen has conducted on-farm trials for more than 15 years. The aim of PRC is to develop, test and recommend the best technologies for production of pigs, so the Danish pig producers maintain their competitiveness in the global market. PRC is also engaged in ensuring the Danish pig producers have as good conditions as possible – and on increasing the acceptance of the production from the society. Given these strategies of PRC and Aarestrup Moustsen’s position as chief scientist, she is involved in assimilation of results to end users and ongoing encouragement to get results to work in practice. In addition, Aarestrup Moustsen has been the author/coauthor of a number of peer review scientific papers, abstracts for international conferences, and is also reviewer for a couple of scientific journals. In addition to her work at the PRC, Aarestrup Moustsen has been honorary associate professor in animal husbandry, pigs, at the Department of Large Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, a position she has had since 2012 and will have until 2017. In 2001, she obtained her PhD from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark; a university where she also got her MSc in Agriculture in 1995. Prior to being chief scientist at PRC, she was senior project manager at the PRC’s Department of Pig Housing and Environment (2001-2010) and scientist at the Danish Institute of Agricultureal Systems (DIAS).
