Clinical Educator to speak at British Veterinary Zoological Society Conference

Clinical Educator of Veterinary Nursing at Harper Adams University, Amelia Hubbard has had varied experience of working with animals from typical domestic pets to the more exotic species, during her working career.

Milly, who is also a Harper Adams Alumna having graduated in 2015, is a RCVS Registered Veterinary Nurse who has an additional qualification in exotic animal nursing and also works within academia.

She will be drawing upon using her specialist knowledge to speak at the upcoming British Veterinary Zoological Society conference later this year.

Here’s what she had to say as she prepares for the conference.

Before my time as an educator at Harper Adams, I was a registered Veterinary Nurse.

I returned to the University in 2021 as a Clinical Educator, having graduated in 2015 with my BSc (Hons) Veterinary Nursing and Practice Management with a 2:1.

Upon graduation, I began to develop my professional experience, and spent some time working in a small veterinary practice in Lincolnshire.

After a few years in general practice, I realised that I preferred working with more exotic species - and was lucky enough to secure a job working as a Veterinary Nurse in a major 24-hour hospital in Hong Kong, which specialised in exotic pets.

Whilst I was out there, I also was able to work in Cambodia on a dog and cat spay neuter clinic to help owners who couldn’t afford to have the surgery performed on their pets.

On my return to the UK in 2018, I continued my work with exotic and non-traditional companion animals and gained my Diploma in Veterinary Nursing of Zoological Species in 2020.

Over the last couple of years, I have been invited to speak at the British Veterinary Zoological Society’s Annual Conference which I will be joining again this year.

I feel very privileged to speak at this event for the fourth time. This conference attracts some of the most well-known veterinary professionals in the zoological field, along with students who are wanting to go into the zoological veterinary profession.

I’m really looking forward to meeting up with other veterinary professionals, as we often all get together at this annual event. I am also looking forward to sitting in on other speaker’s lectures and learning the up-to-date research on veterinary nursing of these animals.

Looking to the future, I want to continuing sharing my passion and knowledge of exotic and non-traditional companion animals, and it’s great that Harper Adams is going to start focused CPD courses, either via webinar or face-to-face, for veterinary professionals to join.

The first CPD event we are planning is for members of the veterinary profession who are new to dealing with exotic species with regards to phone triage – this will be an online webinar in September, once we have finalised the dates.

During the next academic year, I am hoping to expand this and provide some in-person CPD days for nurses and vets who would like to expand their knowledge on exotic species, the first one being on anaesthesia.

As the field of zoological veterinary is still quite small, I would recommend any veterinary professionals looking to enter the zoological field to attend exotic CPD events to make professional connections.

We are hopeful that the first webinar will be performed by the end of the summer months… so watch this space!