JMICAWE welcomes new member of staff

JMICAWE is delighted to welcome Dr Rebecca Doyle to the team as our newest member of staff. Rebecca joins us from the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia and has a wealth of experience in teaching and research in animal behaviour and welfare. In addition, Rebecca has spent more than 10 years in supporting and promoting animal welfare practices and education in low- and middle-income countries. She is a contributing scientist to the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, and has worked with small-holder farmers in Pakistan to promote good welfare. Rebecca also chairs the animal welfare group at the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock.   

Rebecca will be sharing her knowledge and experience with our undergraduate and postgraduate students at R(D)SVS and developing educational links to vet schools in Africa and Asia with the rest of the JMICAWE team. Rebecca has also conducted animal welfare research with a wide range of species, from crocodiles to wild dogs, parrots, sheep and goats! In particular, she has a background in the development of cognitive measures of welfare. Our students will be offered an opportunity to work with Rebecca on some of these project areas and we are looking forward to seeing where this work will take her! 

Rebecca says: 

‘Good animal welfare is good for people’s livelihoods and food security, to climate change and One Health. I believe that through animal welfare research and education we can create meaningful improvements in the lives of animals and people. I’m really looking forward to contributing to the great work of JMICAWE to continue making positive impact in this way.’

 

New member of staff joins the JMICAWE family

JMICAWE is delighted to welcome Miguel Somarriba Soley to the team! Miguel will be joining the MSc International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law programme team to help with programme co-ordination, and will also work with JMICAWE in its animal welfare training project in China. Miguel brings a wealth of varied expertise to the team. He is a veterinarian who qualified in his native Costa Rica, and has worked for the WSPA (now World Animal Protection) in their Animals in Disasters Programme, taking part in disaster management and recovery projects in Latin-American and the Caribbean following natural disasters. He has also worked with organizations providing free veterinary care in rural and indigenous communities in Central America.
 
Miguel moved to Edinburgh to take the MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare, and then joined the SRUC Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research team, firstly as a research assistant and then to conduct his PhD research. Miguel has many and varied interests: his PhD focused on stress in beef cattle and its effects on the microbiome, feed efficiency and methane emissions. In the past he has worked on animal welfare research in domestic species, and has been involved in service dog training, captive animal enrichment and training, animal management during natural disaster situations, behavioural medicine and veterinary private practice. Miguel is also a provisional member of the APBC, working towards full certification in clinical animal behaviour.

Miguel says: ‘I am very excited about joining JMICAWE. I feel genuinely proud to take part in the great work done by JMICAWE to improve animal welfare around the world through education, training and influencing legislation. I appreciate the opportunity, and I will strive to have a positive effect on animals’ lives through my work in JMICAWE and IAWEL.’

We are excited to have Miguel on board, and look forward to his impact on the team’s activities.

Welcome - Katherine Curnow joins our team

Hi, I’m Katherine Curnow and I am the new administrator for the JMICAWE team.

I am from New Zealand and moved to Scotland in March after previously living in Italy and Sweden. I graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA/BSc Conjoint majoring in Biology and Ancient History, so as you can tell, I enjoy different perspectives and approaches to things. Back in New Zealand I was a high school teacher and dean but after five years I wanted a change, so moved back overseas!

I have worked within the Education sector for over ten years – both for private institutions and universities – and am looking forward to being involved with such a passionate and hard-working team. I am a strong supporter of animal welfare and am looking forward to gaining further knowledge from my work.

In New Zealand, our family are whippet and greyhound rescue enthusiasts – at the moment, we have in our family a whippet who came from the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011; and an ex-racing greyhound.