RCVS Trust releases third tranche of research and animal welfare funding

The RCVS Trust has this week awarded just under £600,000 to nearly 70 innovative and high-calibre research and animal welfare projects in the UK and overseas.

This funding represents the third stage of a three-year investment of over £1.5M across a comprehensive range of educational programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Dr John Gilleard, at the Division of Infection and Immunity, Glasgow Veterinary School, was awarded a £17,000 Blue Sky Research grant. “This award will be an extremely valuable contribution to our research on anthelmintic resistance in livestock parasites.

"This is now a major problem in all parts of the world, including the UK, and is a major threat to the sustainable farming of livestock, particularly of small ruminants," he said.

"The award will help us undertake basic research aimed at developing more sensitive molecular-based diagnostic tools that are urgently needed for research, surveillance and routine diagnosis”.

Dr. Eithne Comerford Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Orthopaedics at the University of Liverpool who has been awarded a Small Grant added:

“We are so pleased to have been awarded this RCVS trust grant as it will allow us to objectively assess the mechanical properties of a surgical technique commonly used in the management of canine cranial cruciate ligament disease. Our findings should help all in small animal practice to ameliorate this technique”.

Gerri McHugh, Director of the Trust, said: “We are delighted to have increased our spend to £600,000 this year. This significant uplift in funding has enabled us to fund a much wider range of innovative initiatives at the seven UK veterinary schools and in practices across the UK."

In addition to the Trust's £250,000 investment in six new UK residencies and over £100,000 across 10 new Blue Sky Research projects, it has been able to fund a much higher number of extremely worthy overseas projects through its network of charity partners including SPANA, the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and the Sebakwe Black Rhino Trust.

In parallel, the Trust has supported a number of conservation and wildlife initiatives in the UK through partner organisations including the Institute of Zoology and the Bat Conservation Trust.

"We are very pleased to have made a significant investment in a range of welfare initiatives for the veterinary profession," said Gerri, "these include an investigation of the circumstances of suicide by veterinarians, the development of support schemes for recent graduates and a three-year commitment to the excellent Lancaster Final Year Seminar."

Through its new practice-based diploma programme, the Trust is also supporting five veterinarians in their studies towards diplomas ranging from Small Animal Medicine, to Cattle Health and Production, and to Animal Welfare Science Ethics and Law.

Gerri concluded: "The RCVS Trust is working hard to make a significant investment in the development of veterinary education and animal welfare in the UK and overseas. To this end we are developing a number of new initiatives and will launch these later this year.”