QUB vet appointed to board of the Moredun Foundation
Dr Simon Doherty recently met HRH The Princess Royal at an event hosted at the Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh, where the Princess is the Patron of the Moredun Foundation.
Dr Doherty is on the academic staff at the Queen’s University Belfast School of Biological Sciences, affiliated to the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS). With a career spanning general practice, research, diagnostics and disease surveillance, international trade, professional representation and education, Simon retains a broad portfolio of interests but with a focus on One Health and sustainability in agriculture and aquaculture.
He was appointed as a GlobalScot by the Office of the First Minister of Scotland in 2018 and he maintains close links with the ‘Triple A’ (Animal Health, Agriculture & Aquaculture) sectors in Scotland. He chaired the inaugural ‘A3 Scotland’ Conference in 2022 and is on the organising committee for the follow-up event in Inverness in September 2024.
Formed by farmers for farmers in 1920, The Moredun Foundation is dedicated to improving the understanding, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases by developing a variety of outreach programmes for farmers, vets and the general public; and supporting a broad and varied range of research initiatives within the Moredun Research Institute.
Moredun has always maintained a close working relationship with the farming community. The Foundation continues to be very active in this area of knowledge exchange to ensure that our research remains rooted in the practical needs of livestock farming today. To that end, Moredun has a number of regional advisory boards – North & South of Scotland, North & South of England, and Wales – with grass-roots farmers and veterinary surgeons providing local sectoral knowledge to help shape the direction of research priorities for the institute.
Simon is currently working with potential representatives in Northern Ireland to establish a Northern Ireland Advisory Board for Moredun, that will help to strengthen existing links between the ‘Triple A’ sectors in Scotland and Northern Ireland – this will launch in early 2024.
When NI Veterinary Today spoke with Simon he commented: “It’s a huge privilege to have been appointed to serve on the Moredun Foundation Board and to have been entrusted with establishing and chairing the NI Advisory Board. I see this as a fabulous opportunity to strengthen links between Queen’s, AFBI, CAFRE and Moredun and Scottish colleagues at Pentlands Science Park and Easter Bush, south of Edinburgh. But, more than that, I see it as a superb platform for Northern Irish and Scottish farmers and vets to share their experiences and knowledge, to the benefit of the agri-food sectors on both sides of the North Channel.”
