Dr. Jasper Heerkens

Position: Researcher and Poultry teacher
Professorship: Sustainable Poultry Farming in Circular Business Management
Email: j.heerkens@aeres.nl
Telephone number: +31 88 02 06 025
Social media: LinkedIn

After completing his Zoology and Animal Science studies, Jasper Heerkens worked for several laboratories before obtaining his doctorate at ILVO/Ugen in Belgium. For his doctoral research, he delved into the welfare of laying hens in free range housing. A few years of experience working for an international firm in chicken housing helped to (literally) broaden his chicken horizon even further.

At Aeres University of Applied Sciences in Dronten, he focuses on various poultry projects with a special interest in housing and welfare. This is why, for the study programmes, he is involved in the classes about housing and welfare, including the research module in which the students learn how to conduct research. On the subject of welfare, Jasper not only concerns himself with the animal technical aspect of ‘How are the animals doing?’, but also on the dialogue on this matter with both proponents and opponents.

This is why Humane Cattle Farming is a subject that Jasper advocates across the Aeres organisation. He also practices the animal welfare aspect through his membership of the Aeres Organisation for Animal Welfare and his role at the JongRDA. In the last few years, Jasper has been closely involved in several international projects on the transformation of conventional (chicken battery) coops into free range housing, where new housing is developed for training and educational purposes.