Animal Health and Space Sandpit

Last month, we held our very first hybrid event to identify collaborative opportunities for businesses and researchers in the area of Animal Health and Space. This event was organised in collaboration with the University of Southampton.

This initiative, led jointly by the Universities of Southampton and Surrey, arose out of the Space and Animal Health workshop, held in Spring 2021, as part of the Hants and Surrey Space Hub activity; and the EM3 High Potential Opportunity (Animal Health) scoping discussions, respectively.

Over 40 people including stakeholders from government, academia and industry joined us to share their views.

Here are some of our highlights from the Animal health and Space Sandpit, which was held on 2^nd December 2021.

Setting the scene

Professor Guy Poppy, who spent several years as the Government’s chief scientific advisor for Food Security, set out context and showed the synergies and interdependencies that exist in the area of animals-agriculture-food/Antimicrobial Resistance /OneHealth/animals-conservation-agriculture.

Funding Opportunities

Helen Sweeney, National Contact Point (NCP) for Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, at Innovate UK and Michael Reilly from the University of Surrey Research Strategy team provided  knowledge about potential funding to inform the group discussions

Networking talks

Attendees showcased their areas of research and interest. This included academics, businesses and government agencies and their current research focus.

Panel Discussions

Attendees were split into two groups to discuss Ecosystem Health and Surveillance and modelling using satellite technology.

The discussions covered a wide range of topics including but not limited to remote sensing, tracking and monitoring changes in biodiversity, ecosystem recovery, soil health, climate change, vector borne diseases and satellite technology.

Further Information

This is the first of many events and we hope to see you at our next one.

If you are interested in being part of the group for future meeting and events, please contact Manasa Tripathy.