VTRI – Veterinary Training and Research Initiative funded by Defra and Hefce

 

Successive reports have identified a developing “knowledge gap” in veterinary research in Britain – making both the farming community and the nation as a whole more and more vulnerable to the effects of major outbreaks of animal disease like the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic. The Veterinary Training Research Initiative (VTRI) aims to fill this knowledge gap by encouraging both student and practising vets to buy into the objectives of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy 2004 and get involved in the kind of ground-breaking research that could prevent or halt outbreaks of animal disease - and to equip the profession with better tools to tackle them when they do occur.

 

 

The Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), working closely with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, jointly fund the VTRI. Ambitious in its scope, it aims both to turn the corner on the prevention and control of animal disease and encourage “research awareness” in the veterinary profession. In the long term, VTRI will open up opportunities for personal development in research which will bring enormous benefits both to individual vets and the profession as a whole.

 

VTRI consists of five collaborative programmes, each led by a Veterinary School, but each multi-disciplinary in approach and multi-institutional in scope.  A common theme, though, is training the veterinary researchers of the future.

The programmes

·                     Veterinary Research Training Fellowships in Quantitative Epidemiology (VT0101) led by the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow.

·                     Integration of Functional Genomics and Immunology and their Application to Infectious Disease in Ruminants led by the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh. 

·                      Food-borne zoonotic pathogens: Transmission, pathogen evolution and control - a programme of training and research (VT0103) led by the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool.

·                      Animal susceptibility to infection and disease: do husbandry and welfare drive microbial colonisation and immune development (VT0104) led by the Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol.

·                     The Cambridge Infectious Diseases Consortium (VT0105) led by the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.

 

 

Training

Sixth-form research placements

The Bristol VTRI specifically offers short vacation research projects for sixth-formers considering a career in veterinary science.  Other VTRI programmes can often take a limited number of interested sixth formers for similar projects, so contact the individual programmes for more details.

During the admission procedure to all UK Veterinary schools, a proven interest in research, will be a positive factor in favour of selection.

Veterinary undergraduate vacation studentships

Vacation research scholarships and bursaries are available through each of the VTRI programmes.  They are open to veterinary undergraduates from any UK veterinary school (and other schemes are available for funding similar projects for students from non-veterinary backgrounds).  For details contact:

·                     Paul Wigley (Liverpool)

·                     James Woods (Cambridge)

·                     Mick Bailey (Bristol)

·                     Hugh Miller (Edinburgh)

·                     Kath Tracy (Edinburgh and Glasgow)

In addition to vacation scholarships, each VTRI programme runs courses, and often electives, within their local veterinary undergraduate programme - again, ask the contacts above for more details at your veterinary school.

Intercalation opportunities

These are available for veterinary undergraduate students at any UK veterinary school (and sometimes from other veterinary schools - check with the individual course for details).

Veterinary graduates who intercalate are more likely to pursue research as a career than those who do not, and having undetaken and intercalated degree will increase you ability to gain funding for a further degree (e.g. PhD) after graduation from the veterinary programme.

Intercalation is the ability for veterinary undergraduates to take a year out of their veterinary course, usually after second or third year, to study on the final year of a science degree (BSc) or to undertake a one-year MSc. VTRI funds bursaries for various courses:

·  Intercalated BSc Veterinary Pathogenesis (BSc Single Honours) at Bristol

·  Intercalated BSc Animal Behaviour and Welfare (BSc Single honours programme) at Bristol

·  Intercalated MSc in Veterinary Infection and Disease Control at Liverpool

·  Intercalated MSc. (by Research) at Edinburgh

Graduates and staff of the MSc in Veterinary Infection and Disease Control, 2005 (left) and attendees at the Clinical Research Outreach Programme (CROP) training course, Sept 2005 (right)

Postgraduate training

·                     The CIDC Outreach Programme (CROP) at Cambridge - including one week, funded, "Research into Practice" training courses.

·                     Veterinary Fellowships for short- or long-term research training at Cambridge

·                     Models of Infectious Disease Dynamics (short course) at Cambridge

·                     CIDC Exotic Diseases Course (Full programme)(short course) at Cambridge

·                     MSc. (by Research) at Edinburgh

·                     MSc in Veterinary Infection and Disease Control at Liverpool

·                     MPhil and PhD (research training) opportunities - these are often attached to VTRI research programmes, so check out the programme links above.  We will try to advertise current PhD opportunities on this page however:  MSc/MPhil/PhD by research opportunities

·                     MSc by research in quantitative veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh and Glasgow.

·                     Research Fellowships in quantitative veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Each of the programmes actively participates in and organises a variety of CPD courses for veterinary and biomedical scientists, so check out the programme and training links above. We will try to advertise current CPD opportunities on this page however:  CPD and short course opportunities

Postdoctoral training

·                     Post-doctoral Fellowships, including research leave fellowship opportunities are often attached to VTRI research programmes, so check out the programme links above.  We will try to advertise current opportunities on this page however:  VTRI post-doc research opportunities

·                     Research Fellowships in quantitative veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh and Glasgow.