Livestock Research Group July 2015 Newsletter

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Joint meeting of the Research Networks
The LRG’s six research networks held a joint workshop at the University of Reading, United Kingdom, on 26th
June 2015. The objectives were to improve communication and collaboration amongst the networks and explore
interdisciplinary approaches for tackling greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture.
Forty-seven participants attended the
workshop from 21 countries, representing
all six networks. Presentations on each of
the networks and scientific presentations
made for a very informative morning session
and the afternoon breakout discussions
addressed the benefits and roadblocks to
enhanced collaboration within and between
networks and ideas for ways to increase
joint activities. The workshop was live-
streamed on YouTube and live-tweeted by
@AHGHGN, @RMG_network and
@METHAGENE
Through better collaboration, the networks
will increase awareness of, and access to,
databases and protocols, will be better
placed to explore the whole farm system,
and will avoid duplication of effort. Funding
was raised as a barrier to progressing
the networks but a number of potential
funding routes were identified. Other issues
discussed on the day included the need to
build stronger links with industry, to create
multi-disciplinary research proposals,
encourage smaller active groups within
the networks, and engage early-career
scientists. Participants agreed that this was
a productive workshop and they would be
keen to attend another that also had greater
involvement from PhD students and post-
docs. In the meantime better communication
between networks needs to be supported
(e.g. webinars, sharing newsletters). A
full workshop overview is currently being
prepared and will be made available on the
GRA website.
Animal Health Network
The Animal Health & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Network held its second annual workshop on 15th March
2015 in themargins of the Climate Smart Agriculture 2015 conference inMontpellier, France. Theworkshop brought
together researchers and funders to exchange information on relevant scientific initiatives with which the Network
is developing links.
Participants addressed data needs and
potential data sources required to consider
the relationship between animal health and
GHG emissions intensity, and identified the
wide range of expertise required for this,
as well as potential research areas and
funding sources for the Network. Eighteen
participants attended the workshop,
representing 11 countries: Colombia, France,
Germany, Italy, Nepal, the Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Sri Lanka, UK, and USA.
A key aim of the Network is to bring together
the two traditionally separate disciplines
of animal health and GHG research. The
Network also recognises the importance
of engaging with social scientists and
economists and is now developing links
with NEAT (a network to enhance the use
of economics in animal health education,
research and policy-making in Europe and
beyond). At the March workshop, participants
identified that data managers and systems
analysts are also required to advance the
Network through bringing together data
from the different disciplines and making it
accessible.
The vision is to create a multi-national
network engaging all GRA countries where
animal health, GHG and social science
research communities work together to
address issues relevant to animal health
and GHG emissions intensity under concrete
funded research programmes. To work
towards achieving this in the next year,
the Network will be promoted at events
such as the Latino American Association
of Animal Production (ALPA) Congress
(November 2015), it will aim to increase
active participation through inviting more
researchers to take on a Network Champion
role, and will investigate ways to encourage
participation by early career scientists.
Funding options for a project on ‘Targeting
animal health interventions to reduce GHG
emissions intensities’ are currently being
pursued and the Network continues to
interact with FACCE-JPI and STAR-IDAZ,
which provide potential funding routes for
future networking activities.
Contact
for further information.
Updates from the Research Networks
Members of the six LRG Research Networks at the joint meeting in Reading, UK, in June 2015