MVetSci Conservation Medicine

We are very pleased to announce that there will be Commonwealth Scholarships available for MVetSci Conservation Medicine Programme in the upcoming year! If you are interested please apply soon as the deadline is 31st March. Further details are available on this page:
https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/postgraduate/e-learning/common-distance-learning
Join our global student community and make a difference in conservation and wildlife health!

When we consider the wider systems that threaten biodiversity, one of the most significant is, arguably, rampant consumerism. This does not mean that there is anything wrong looking for a bargain, but we, as a species, could be much more discerning in how we exercise our purchasing power. This image is therefore offered as an antidote to the many other images that fill our inboxes at this time of year.

The graduation ceremony for our MVetSci Conservation Medicine students took place earlier this week. As our student community is global not all graduates were able to take part in the ceremony, but it was fantastic to celebrate with those who were able to travel. Many congratulations to everyone graduating from the programme and we wish you all the very best in your next endeavours! Anyone interested in joining our programme can find further information here: https://vet.ed.ac.uk/education/postgraduate/taught/conservation-medicine

Many congratulations to Meera Mokashi for this fantastic achievement! It is the first time that one of our Conservation Medicine students has won this distinguished award and it is testament to her commitment and dedication to support her colleagues.

Conservation Medicine student Dr Meera Mokashi awarded the Principal’s Medal.

Principal’s Medals are awarded for the delivery of exceptional service or support to the University community. Recipients are nominated by fellow students and staff, and Meera will receive her Medal at this year’s winter graduation ceremony.

Meera was recognised for her voluntary work as a programme representative, bringing together the online student community through social initiatives. Her collaborative projects include a photography competition and a festive pet costume event. Meera advocates for student consultation in University policy development and sits on a number of School and University committees, reflecting her commitment to student welfare and a supportive academic environment.

In March, Meera was named Edinburgh University Students’ Union (EUSA) Student Representative of the Year.

Many congratulations Meera, and thank you.

I am delighted to be able to share details of a publication on how we can work towards multi-species healthy more-than-human cities.

This work has been led by MVetSci Conservation Medicine graduate, Nicole Sarver, and it has been a real pleasure to support Nicole in this work, seeing it through from project development to the dissertation submission and now peer-reviewed publication.

Well done Nicole.

Coevolving Citizen Science, Bats, and Urban Planning to Support More-than-Human Healthy Cities: Lessons from Florida Urbanisation has resulted in habitat degradation and destruction for native bat species in Florida, USA, posing a continuing threat to bat populations and ecosystem health. Citizen science has been documented to fill population data gaps and outline bat responses to urbanisation, but an understandin...

Celebrating Joanna Macy’s Life and Legacy
Friday November 14, 7-9pm GMT (online)
We are delighted to be able to share with you details of a special online event honouring the incredible life and legacy of Joanna Macy.
This event draws together a panel of experts who have worked with and been inspired by Joanna in many ways and whose lifework reflects these influences. The panel will be sharing stories, reflections and teachings from Joanna’s impactful work in environmental activism and deep ecology. This event is a wonderful opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who are inspired by Joanna’s teachings and want to carry on her legacy. Let’s come together to celebrate the wisdom and compassion that Joanna has shared with the world!

This event is brought to you by the Sustainability in Education Research Group (SIERG) and Edinburgh Environmental Humanities Network (EEHN) at the University of Edinburgh.

Register here: https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/environmental-humanities/2025/10/07/joanna-macy/

Australia approves first vaccine to save koalas from chlamydia

Australia approves first chlamydia vaccine for koalas ravaged by the disease Researchers spent over 10 years developing the single-dose vaccine, which decreases mortality from the sexually transmitted infection in wild populations by at least 65%.

Today is the final deadline for applications to join our MVetSci Conservation Medicine Programme in September 2025. If you are hoping to join the programme please submit your application today!
Further information and application links are below:

Conservation Medicine | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies This programme provides veterinarians with the skills, knowledge and global networks required to be effective practitioners of Conservation Medicine.

Many congratulations to Niamh McGill on having a paper from her MVetSci dissertation published in Animal Welfare. This is an excellent example of how graduates from the Conservation Medicine programme are having real-world impact.

The abstract from the paper is reproduced below and an open access link provided to allow those interested in the paper to view the whole work.

Abstract:
Good welfare is of inherent value to all captive animals and promotes species conservation objectives. Concern for animal welfare is growing globally, and research shows that animal welfare is a top priority for zoo visitors. There is, therefore, an urgent need for zoos to develop and validate species-specific welfare assessment tools with a shift in focus away from avoiding negative affective states, and towards promoting positive ones. This shift in emphasis requires the development of comprehensive and robust welfare assessment protocols incorporating species-specific indicators. This study aimed to identify and propose welfare indicators for captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) that could be used to adapt the EU Welfare Quality® protocol for this species. A literature review was carried out according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the authors followed the principles of a systematic review to identify a comprehensive set of welfare indicators for this species. Overall, 14 animal-based and 16 resource-based indicators are proposed to assess the 12 criteria and four principles of Welfare Quality®. This study represents the first effort to adapt the EU Welfare Quality® protocol to assess captive chimpanzee welfare and illustrates how this protocol can be adapted to develop a taxon-specific welfare assessment tool once species-specific natural history and biology are considered.

Using the Welfare Quality® framework to develop a welfare assessment protocol for captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) | Animal Welfare | Cambridge Core Using the Welfare Quality® framework to develop a welfare assessment protocol for captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) - Volume 34