Canine BCS Project

Participant Information Sheet

Study Title
Evaluating the accuracy of using machine learning algorithms to estimate canine body condition scores in Labrador Retrievers and the feasibility for generalisation across different breeds

Purpose of the study
The research is an interdisciplinary study combining computer science, data science and animal science with the aim of developing an automated system using machine learning to classify body condition scores. This will be initially trained using Labrador Retriever data and then tested on wider breed data to determine generalisation. The research will make up a masters thesis, online application for demonstration purposes and if suitable the results may be presented at academic conferences and/or written up for publication in peer reviewed academic journals.

Taking Part
Participation is entirely voluntary and requires completion of four questions and uploading of two photographs. The information collected is solely regarding your dog and no personally identifiable information is requested or stored as part of the research project.

Right to Withdraw
Withdrawal from the study can be done at any time without giving a reason and without penalty. This can be done by emailing research@caninebcs.com and providing as much information regarding the data provided such as the age, sex, breed, neutered status, description of your dog and approximate date/time of submitting the information. Once this has been found and removed confirmation of your removal from the study will be confirmed by email.

Data Protection
No personally identifiable information is collected and the data provided will be stored securely on a third party cloud hosted database. The information will not be made publicly available and will only be stored for the purposes of developing the machine learning system and will be deleted on completion of the project. While an online application for demonstration purposes will be publicly available this will not include any data provided by participants.

Contact Procedure
The study has been reviewed inline with the University of Sunderland Research Ethics Group guidelines however if you have any concerns or questions, in the first instance please contact research@caninebcs.com. Any complaints or further escalation can be directed to john.fulton@sunderland.ac.uk quoting reference BI58XL.