Johan Lundblad

I have primarily worked within two research areas: the development of methods to improve pain assessment in horses and cattle, and clinical biomechanics.

As a veterinarian and equine practitioner, I have always considered accurate pain assessment to be extremely important. At the same time, it is a challenging field of research, and our current understanding of pain in many animal species remains limited. My research primarily focuses on horses and how they express pain and stress, particularly how these states interact with and influence one another.

I also conduct research on the use of objective methods for assessing lameness. One of the main aims is to understand the high prevalence of movement asymmetries exceeding commonly used thresholds for clinical lameness in the Swedish horse population, as well as how objective measurement methods can be more effectively implemented in clinical practice.

I am currently leading the following research projects:

• Developing and improving methods for assessing pain in horses under clinical conditions using video analysis.
• Applying AI-based video analysis to horses experiencing pain, with the aim of enabling earlier and more reliable pain recognition.
• Using objective visual and physiological measurement methods, such as surface electromyography and optical motion capture, to quantify subtle movements in equine facial expressions.
• Investigating how the intensity and duration of subtle behavioural signals influence the interpretation of equine body language.

I teach at the undergraduate level, primarily anatomy for veterinary students.

I am also a member of the Programme Board for Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (PN-VH), with a term of office from 2025 to 2028.

I serve as co-supervisor to PhD candidate Ebba Zetterberg.

I also supervise Bachelor's and Master's thesis projects in veterinary medicine and animal science. Feel free to contact me for projects.