Meet the Jury Olivier Martin on The inSiliCow Digital Twin: Mechanistic Modeling and Virtual Dairy Farms for Next-Generation Herd Management

Arenberg Doctoral School is proud to invite you to Meet The Jury!

When internationally renowned experts visit KU Leuven as a member of a PhD Examination Committee, we like to seize this opportunity to give this expert a forum to a large audience. All members of Science, Engineering & Technology are most welcome to the Meet The Jury Lectures.

Dr. Olivier Martin (INRAE, France) will give a lecture on “The inSiliCow Digital Twin: Mechanistic Modeling and Virtual Dairy Farms for Next-Generation Herd Management”.

Dairy farming systems are shaped by a complex interplay of animal physiology, genetics, management decisions, environmental conditions, and economic constraints. The inSiliCow project addresses this complexity through the development of a digital twin of the dairy farm: an individual-based, multi-scale simulation platform that enables the creation of virtual herds and farms for testing management strategies before their implementation in practice. As a flagship project within the INRAE DIGIT-BIO metaprogram, inSiliCow brings together a large interdisciplinary consortium spanning animal science, precision livestock farming, genetics, reproduction, computer science, and digital agriculture. The simulator integrates mechanistic models of animal physiology, metabolism, reproduction, genetic variation, and herd management into a unified framework that represents the full life course of individual animals and their interactions within a farming system. This seminar will present the technological implementation of the digital twin, the mechanistic modeling principles underlying the virtual cow and virtual herd, and the integration of observed and simulated data. Particular attention will be given to how digital-twin technology can support scientific discovery, decision support, and scenario analysis for improving productivity, sustainability, animal health, welfare, and resilience in dairy production systems. The lecture will conclude with a discussion of current challenges and future opportunities for digital twins in livestock farming, and their potential value for researchers, advisors, technology developers, and farmers.

Following the lecture, there will be opportunity for young researchers to interact with him.

• Venue: Landbouwinstituut Hoofdgebouw (331-01) 00.06 – raadzaal, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Heverlee
• Date: 26 August 2026 – 14:00-15:00
• Dr. Olivier Martin is visiting KU Leuven on the occasion of the PhD defence of Martin Gote