Tomás Norton

Tomás Norton. Agricultural engineer and associate professor in Sustainable Precision Livestock Farming at KU Leuven, Belgium, focusing on technology's role in sustainable livestock production. He holds a PhD in Biosystems Engineering from University College Dublin and fellowships from the Institute of Agricultural Engineers (FIAgrE), the International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers (FiAABE), and the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). At KU Leuven, Dr Norton co-coordinates courses on Modelling Biosystems and Sustainable Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) and lectures on Biological Production Systems and Agro-production Systems. Since 2017, he has led a PLF research team within the M3-BIORES group, comprising over 12 PhD and postdoctoral researchers. They investigate animal behaviour, health, and welfare using remote monitoring technologies, and are funded by the EU (Horizon Europe, InterReg, IHI, EFSA), USDA, and Flemish organizations (FWO, VLAIO). As of 2025, his team coordinates one Horizon Europe (Erasmus+) project and partners in four other Horizon Europe R&I projects. He is also vice-chair of the COST-Action project, European Network for Livestock Phenomics (EU-LI-PHE), running from 2023-2027. Dr Norton has co-authored 100+ peer-reviewed publications, over 50 invited international conference presentations, primarily in PLF, and a Web-of-Science h-index of 34. He's been listed among Stanford University's top 2% most-cited scientists since 2020. He chairs Section II and the Technical Board of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR), and is a member of its Executive Board. He is Editor-in-Chief of Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Specialty Content Editor for Precision Livestock Farming in Frontiers in Animal Science, and a Scientific Advisory Board member of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. He contributed to the Flemish Scientific Team for Air Emissions (2019-2020) and, since the start of 2025, has been part of the Flemish Association for the promotion of the welfare of farm animals.