The Princess Royal attends a special event to celebrate Moredun's unique partnership with the farming industry

The Princess Royal was joined by over 100 guests to hear more about the key achievements resulting from this unique partnership over the years and looking towards some of the exciting new opportunities arising from the very latest technologies.

The speakers at the event included Mr Rod McKenzie, Moredun Foundation North of Scotland Regional Board member who spoke about some of Moredun’s achievements in developing new vaccines and treatment strategies for many important sheep diseases such as clostridial disease, louping ill and pneumonia and highlighted the key strength of the partnership between farmers and researchers to help achieve these outputs.

Sheila Voas, Chief Veterinary Officer for Scotland spoke about how the early research done by Moredun into developing diagnostics to detect pestiviruses in livestock helped in Scotland’s ambitious programme to eradicate BVD.

Dr Stewart Burgess, Principal Investigator at Moredun gave the audience a glimpse into the future of how some of the very latest technologies might be applied to significantly improve how we can rapidly detect and diagnose livestock and zoonotic pathogens. All the presentations emphasised the importance of collaboration and what can be achieved through effective partnership working.

”We are delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal to our event showcasing what has been achieved through Moredun’s unique relationship with the farming industry and how new research and technologies will play a vital role going forward to ensure sustainable production of healthy livestock worldwide."

Mr Ian Duncan Millar, Chairman of the Moredun Foundation

During her visit, HRH The Princess Royal met guests including a group of post-graduate students and early career scientists along with those representing the farming industry, next generation farmers with Crown Estate Scotland, GALVmed (Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines) and the Equine Grass Sickness Fund.

Before leaving, HRH The Princess Royal met scientists involved in mastitis research, the Scottish Deer Health Survey and the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) research group.

The guests also enjoyed taking part in a lively panel discussion and debate on The Value of Hill Farming, chaired by Nigel Miller, Chairman of Livestock Health Scotland and involving: Martin Kennedy, NFUS Vice President, Sybil McPherson, past chairman of NSA Scotland, Colin MacPhail, CA MacPhail Consulting and Andrew Barbour.

Source: Moredun Foundation