Researchers awarded for contributions to ruminant welfare
The 2022 Ruminant Well-being Awards, sponsored by the World Association for Buiatrics and Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, were granted to Dr. Antoni Dalmau (Achievement Award) and Dr. Louise Kremer (Research Award) in recognition of their efforts to improve ruminant welfare.
The bi-annual ‚Ruminant Well-Being Awards’, held in partnership with the World Association for Buiatrics (WAB), reflects Boehringer Ingelheim’s long-term commitment to promoting the health and well-being of ruminants. The award ceremony took place at the World Buiatrics Congress in Madrid, Spain, on September 4th 2022.
By giving out the awards, Boehringer Ingelheim and the World Association for Buiatrics (WAB) aim to raise public awareness of the important work veterinarians are doing to better the lives of farm animals. “By supporting the Ruminant Well-being Awards, Boehringer Ingelheim confirms its long-term commitment to the cattle industry. We are proud to encourage and reward innovation in this field - these awards recognize exceptional contribution to the scientific knowledge on ruminant well-being,” shared Dr. Laurent Goby, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Cattle, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health.
Two different awards were granted: the Ruminant Well-being Achievement Award aims at rewarding contributions made by practicing veterinarians or experienced researchers in advancing the well-being of ruminants. The Ruminant Well-being Research Award rewards recent PhD graduates who have significantly improved the understanding of ruminant well-being.
Each award comprises a €10,000 cash prize, plus reimbursement of the recipient's travel expenses to attend the conference and ceremony. With these awards, Boehringer Ingelheim wants to highlight the important role played by vets in the continuous improvement of welfare of food-producing ruminants.
The winners
Dr. Antoni Dalmau, veterinarian and researcher on animal welfare at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) of Catalonia received the Ruminant Well-being Achievement Award.
Dr. Louise Kremer, who just achieved a PhD at Wageningen University on using milk yield as a practical indicator of mood in cows received the Ruminant Well-being Research Award.
The Ruminant Well-Being Research Award
This award will be offered to a recent PhD graduate in veterinary science, animal science or related disciplines that made an exceptional contribution to the scientific knowledge on ruminant well-being by:
- Improving our understanding of pain expression as well as the recognition of pain and other forms of suffering
- Developing scientific methods of measuring animal well-being, with potential practical applications
- Developing scientific based strategies that improve animal well-being
- Identifying issues of concern and seeking solutions to challenges
- Developing methods to change human attitudes and behaviour to ensure proper stewardship
The Ruminant Well-Being Achievement Award
The second award category will be offered to a practising veterinarian or a researcher in veterinary science, animal science or related disciplines to recognise his/her achievements in advancing the well-being of ruminants. It aims at rewarding an individual that made a contribution to the well-being of food-producing ruminants by:
- Improving our understanding of pain expression as well as the recognition of pain and other forms of suffering
- Developing scientific methods of measuring animal well-being
- Developing practical well-being assessment methods
- Developing practical strategies to improve animal well-being
- Raising awareness of issues of concern; engaging different stakeholders in seeking solutions to challenges
- Changing human attitudes and behaviour to ensure proper stewardship
- Communicating information about, and proposing solutions to, animal well-being challenges with courage and integrity