Maja Söderlind

Since 2017, I have worked as a lecturer at the Department of Animal Biosciences, where I have primarily taught anatomy in the veterinary medicine programme. In 2023, I began my PhD studies. The preliminary title of my thesis is Facing Pain, Coding Faces: Behavioural Pain Assessment and the Development of an Anatomically Based Facial Action Coding System for Cattle.

Recognising pain in cattle is important for animal welfare, but pain can be difficult to assess as it may be expressed through a range of different and sometimes subtle changes in behaviour. Facial expressions have the potential to provide important information, but to increase our understanding of what they can convey, we need to identify which facial movements cattle are capable of and be able to describe them in an objective and systematic way.

In my PhD project, I investigate behaviour-based pain assessment in dairy cows and develop a Facial Action Coding System (FACS) for cattle. By mapping the facial musculature and studying facial movements in cattle across different contexts, we are developing a system for objectively describing individual facial movements without assigning them a specific meaning in advance. This may provide new opportunities to study facial expressions in cattle and, in the longer term, improve our understanding of how pain and different emotional states are expressed.

I also participate in research projects focusing on biomechanics and objective movement analysis in cattle.

Main supervisor: Marie Rhodin
Co-supervisors: Elin Hernlund (SLU), Jean-Francois Valarcher (SLU), and Katrina Ask (SLU)

Selected publications:

Maja Söderlind, Bridget Cain, Katrina Ask, Jean-Francois Valarcher, Elin Hernlund, Pia Haubro Andersen, and Marie Rhodin. (2026) "Descriptive, comparative, and functional anatomy of the facial musculature in cattle (Bos taurus)". The Anatomical Record. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.70124 

Maja Söderlind, Katrina Ask, Anna Leclercq, Therése Åkesson, Jean-Francois Valarcher, Elin Hernlund, Pia Haubro Andersen, and Marie Rhodin. (2025) "Evaluation of a composite pain scale including facial expressions for detecting orthopedic pain in lame dairy cows". Journal of Dairy Science. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25692

A. Leclercq, K. Ask, Y. Mellbin, A. Byström, M. Söderlind, E. Telezhenko, C. Bergsten, P. Haubro Andersen, M. Rhodin, E. Hernlund. (2025) "Kinematic changes in dairy cows with induced, unilateral forelimb lameness during straight line walk". https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2025.101482

A. Leclercq, K. Ask, Y. Mellbin, A. Byström, F.M. Serra Bragança, M. Söderlind, E. Telezhenko, C. Bergsten, P. Haubro Andersen, M. Rhodin, E. Hernlund. (2024) "Kinematic changes in dairy cows with induced hindlimb lameness: transferring methodology from the field of equine biomechanics". https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2024.101269

Anna Leclercq, Anna Byström, Maja Söderlind, Elisabeth Persson, Marie Rhodin, Maria Terese Engell, and Elin Hernlund. (2022) "Evaluation of feedback methods for improved detection of hindlimb lameness in horses among riding instructors and trainers". https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.992954

Mette Christoffersen, Maja Söderlind, Sofia Rydemann Rudefalk, Hanne Gervi Pedersen, Joanne Allen, Natali Krekeler. (2015) "Risk factors associated with uterine fluid after breeding caused by Streptococcus zooepidemicus". https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2015.07.007

Alongside my research, I teach anatomy in the veterinary medicine programme.