Cut, Print, Moving On
There are some changes coming to
the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education. In June, our
long-time collaborator from SRUC, Jill MacKay, will be moving to the Royal
(Dick) School of Veterinary Studies for good to take up a new position as a
research fellow in veterinary education.
Jill started her career at the
University of Glasgow doing an M.Sci in Zoology. As part of her five year
degree she did a year’s internship with the RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife
Hospital, working in wildlife rehabilitation and post-release monitoring. She
was a regular volunteer with the RSPB, working in knowledge transfer for the
hen harrier nesting project at Muirshiels Country Park. After finishing her
degree in 2009, she joined the University of Edinburgh and what was then the
Scottish Agricultural College to carry out her PhD investigating personality in
cattle.
During her PhD, Jill continued to
work in knowledge transfer and started teaching SAC undergraduates. She
regularly participated in the Royal Highland Show and science festivals
throughout Scotland. She worked with Wageningen University in Leeuwarden, the
Netherlands, for the final experiment of her PhD at their Dairy Research
Centre.
After completing her PhD in 2013,
Jill worked principally on knowledge transfer at SRUC on the Animal Welfare Indicators
project and created
bespoke continued professional development courses for IFAW with the
centre. She was then a coordinator for the Animal
Behaviour and Welfare Massive Open Online Course and worked with the Centre
on a number of projects, including the World Animal Protection ‘Key
Drivers in Veterinary Education’ workshops in Taiwan.
From 2014 Jill worked as the
coordinator for our International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law MSc which saw
its first
MSc students graduate in 2015. In this role, Jill was able to use her experience
in interdisciplinary research to the fore to help with the dissertation
projects for students.
In Jill’s new role she’ll be
joining the VMED division of the Vet School. VMED researches veterinary
education in order to continue providing cutting edge tools for veterinary
teaching at Edinburgh. She’s looking forward to getting to grips with the rest
of the veterinary curriculum and bringing an interdisciplinary approach to the
research. While Jill will no longer be working directly with the centre, she is
already planning some collaborative research projects.
Jill says:
“I have loved my years with SRUC
and my many secondments to the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal
Welfare Education. They’ve given me loads of great opportunities, like working
on the MOOC and travelling to Taiwan. I’m very excited to be starting this new
research fellowship on a topic that I really got interested in because of my
work with the Centre, and I’m delighted to continue working on this campus and
with my amazing colleagues.”
We will all really miss Jill's enthusiasm and professionalism, but also know that happily she is not going far - thank you for your hard work at JMICAWE and all the very best in your new job, Jill.
Jill at Midlothian Science Festival, demonstrating the infrared camera
 |
Jill at Wageningen Dairy Research Unit with one of the girls |
No comments:
Post a Comment