The Sir John Hammond Award closes for nominations on 1st March. We caught up previous award winner, Margaret Gill, Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen to ask her a few questions about working in animal science and receiving the prestigious award.

 

How did your interest in animal science and research first develop, and what motivated you to pursue a career in this field?

One of my uncles worked at the Rowett Institute in the sheep section and his wife came from a hill sheep farm, so despite growing up in Edinburgh I had exposure to sheep (and research) at an early age. The 1960s and 70s was also a time when global food security was recognised as an issue and caught my imagination. Studying animal science was a way of combining those two interests.

 

Can you share a specific project or study that you are particularly proud of, and how it has contributed to advancements in animal science?

My research career is a long time ago as I have been more involved in managing and advising on research projects and programmes in the last thirty years. The programme I am most proud of commissioning is one called Zoonoses in Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS), which was launched in 2012. It was developed while I was a Senior Research Fellow at what was then the Department for International Development (now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Organisation) and attracted investment from 5 other public sector funders. We held initial workshops to bring researchers together with international research users (FAO, WHO and what is now the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)) to facilitate rapid uptake of research findings should an epidemic occur. We failed to anticipate Covid-19, but hopefully the closer relationship between researchers and those organisations was helpful during the pandemic.

 

The Hammond Award recognises outstanding contributions to animal science. What impact do you hope your work will have on the broader scientific community and society as a whole?

I received the Hammond Award in 1992, three years after moving from working at a Research Council funded Institute to working for an Institute owned by the UK Government’s Overseas Development Administration. When I made that move, a respected member of BAS told me that would be “the end of my career”! Receiving the award gave me confidence I had made the right move and I hope it reassured others that working on livestock in developing countries was a good thing to do!

 

How do you approach collaboration and mentorship in your career, especially in fostering the development of other women in animal science?

I am a passionate collaborator. Everyone sees the world, and indeed research questions, from a slightly different angle and we can all learn by acknowledging and understanding from how others see the world. One way of progressing towards a balanced view (which is essential for achieving a realistic understanding) is by having a diverse team or panel. I was fortunate that colleagues recognised that and put me forward for teams and advisory roles early in my career and I learnt from that. I try to create diverse teams and to encourage female colleagues to have confidence in their own abilities.