Newly structured department to drive Harper Adams’ animal health and welfare science research and courses

Posted 23 September 2021

A newly structured Department of Animal Health, Behaviour and Welfare at Harper Adams will be driving the development of courses and research to support the animal health and welfare sciences. 

Work has been undertaken in recent months to ensure the academic team is resourced and structured to best meet the needs of students, researchers and industry partners. 

Head of Department, Dr Philip Robinson, said: “The growth in demand for our undergraduate courses, alongside a developing research and industry engagement portfolio, has created a need to recruit more academic and technical support staff. We have restructured the Department to facilitate this expansion. 

“I’m very excited about the prospects for our graduates and their influence both within Harper Adams and also in the workplace. Our expanding range of applied teaching and research will have a positive impact on further improving animal wellbeing at a national and international level.”   

The newly re-shaped Department comprises three sections: Veterinary Nursing; Veterinary Physiotherapy; and Animal Behaviour and Welfare.  

Veterinary Medicine and Surgery degrees are delivered independently by the Harper & Keele Veterinary School, which will have close links with the newly restructured Department.

An emphasis on interprofessional education enables students from allied veterinary and animal sciences subject areas to be taught and learn together, embedding professional networking and collaboration into their education, and better equipping them for their future employment. 

Students on veterinary courses across both the Harper & Keele Veterinary School and the Department of Animal Health, Behaviour and Welfare will equally benefit from Harper Adams University’s outstanding facilities including the Veterinary Education Centre and Veterinary Services Centre, plus the Companion Animal House Unit, University farm livestock enterprises and associated laboratories.  

Interim Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Lee, added: “The restructuring of the Department aligns with an exciting expansion in the Health, Behaviour and Welfare animal sciences at Harper Adams especially within the wider veterinary professions of nursing and physiotherapy.

“The new structure and sections clearly emphasise Harper Adams’ strengths in these critical growth areas to support our growing student population, but also the wider research required in animal behaviour and welfare and pedagogical delivery of the veterinary health sciences.”