Page 49 - Eclipse - Autumn/Winter 2022

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Professor Christine Nicol wins medal

for poultry welfare science

Fraser Gordon Memorial Trust was silver lining, as the rapid rise in welfare
established in 1982, the year I started science has produced more data than
my PhD. I would never have imagined ever before, allowing informative meta-
then that I would one day receive the analyses and suggesting rational targets
honour of being a Memorial Lecturer. for welfare improvement.
At the first poultry science conference Christine is an award-winning animal
I attended, another delegate, learning scientist who, as well as her role at the
that my PhD was on the subject of RVC, has held honorary appointments at
hen welfare, asked me rather cuttingly the Universities of Oxford and Lincoln.
what I was going to do ‘when I grew The Robert Fraser Gordon Memorial
up’. Forty years on, I will leave it to the Trust was established in remembrance
audience to decide whether it was of Dr Robert Fraser Gordon, who
rofessor Christine Nicol worth me persisting!” throughout his career gave unstintingly
presented the prestigious She addressed the rapidly changing of himself to the poultry industry and
Gordon Memorial Trust Lecture landscape in which hens are kept the veterinary profession. Each year
Pat this year’s WPSA conference and how, although this resolves the Trust selects a person who has
in April. Within her lecture ‘Whither hen some welfare concerns, it is not fully made distinguished contributions to
welfare?’, she commented: “The Robert addressing others. Although there is a poultry science.

Dr Charlotte Burn and Ria Popat –

Winners of the Animal Technology and

Welfare 2021 Journal prize

ongratulations to Dr Charlotte The paper has been published in
Burn and Ms Ria Popat, who the free, open access journal Animal
won the Animal Technology and Technology and Welfare, which covers
CWelfare 2021 journal prize. The animal science and technology,
prize was awarded for their publication management and education, and
entitled ‘A tunnel is not enough: promotes best practice for animal
mice benefit from in-cage provision welfare in research.
of a communal shelter as well as a
handling tunnel’. The research found
that laboratory mice sheltered three times
more when they had a dome-shaped
shelter large enough to huddle together
inside, compared with when they only had
a tunnel shelter in their cage.
The prize is awarded annually to
the author of the ‘best original
peer-reviewed paper’ in the journal
Animal Technology and Welfare. It The research described in the
commemorates Marjorie (Sandiford) paper was funded via a vacation
Whittingham, who served on the scholarship awarded to Ria Popat by
Institute of Animal Technology the Universities Federation for Animal
council for 11 years, making exceptional Welfare during her BSc Bioveterinary
contributions to the organisation’s work. Sciences degree at RVC, and was
supervised by Dr Burn.

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