Badger Ageing, Demographic, Genomic and Epidemiological Research
Badger Ageing, Demographic, Genomic and Epidemiological Research
As the project develops, we will share resources for researchers, students, teachers, policy audiences and the interested public. These may include accessible explainers, teaching materials, publications, code, Shiny apps, policy briefs and event materials.
Accessible explainers about wildlife disease, bTB, badger ecology, uncertainty and long-term research.
Educational materials on disease ecology, field monitoring, data science, modelling and scientific uncertainty.
Links to publications, preprints, code repositories, model documentation and open science outputs.
Policy-facing summaries, event materials and briefings as they become available.
bTB and wildlife disease can be complex and sometimes controversial topics. This page answers common questions about the project, its purpose and its approach.
Badgers, as the wildlife hosts of bovine tuberculosis are the main study system, but the project is about wildlife disease more broadly. We use a long-running badger-bTB study system to ask general questions about how diseases persist, spread and change in wild populations.
Neither. This is a research project, not a campaign. The aim is to understand disease dynamics using long-term evidence, not to promote a predetermined position about badgers or disease management.
No. bTB has serious impacts for farming communities, animal health, rural livelihoods, wildlife and policy. Improving the evidence base is important for everyone affected by the disease.
The project is designed to understand the ecological, epidemiological, genetic and demographic processes that shape disease persistence and transmission. Decisions about disease management sit with policy-makers and relevant agencies. The project may provide evidence that informs those discussions but it is not a campaign for a predetermined management outcome.
This badger population has been monitored for more than 50 years creating a rare opportunity to study wildlife disease in detail. This makes it possible to ask how infection, movement, survival, social structure, genetics and ageing interact across time.
Many important processes happen out of sight. Researchers may not directly observe when an animal becomes infected, whether an uncaptured animal has died or moved away, which individuals transmitted infection or how social contacts occur underground or at night. The project uses long-term data and statistical models to estimate these hidden processes.
A disease is often called endemic when it is consistently present in a population. However, persistent disease is not necessarily stable or simple. Infection levels can fluctuate through time and may be influenced by many interacting processes.
Genomics can help reconstruct family relationships, identify population structure, distinguish resident and immigrant individuals and explore whether genetic variation is linked to infection, disease progression or transmission.
Models help combine different sources of evidence and estimate processes that cannot be observed directly. They also allow researchers to compare alternative explanations and quantify uncertainty.
The project is committed to open and reproducible research where possible. Outputs, code and derived data will be shared in line with ethical approvals, data governance requirements, partner agreements and publication policies.
The project uses samples and data collected through long-term monitoring conducted under appropriate licences, with a strong emphasis on animal welfare. Badgers are protected in the UK and the project does not involve activity that harms them.
Updates will be shared through this website and our social media channels on Instagram, LinkedIn and Bluesky.