Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal attended a special event held today (Friday 4th November) at the Moredun Foundation, Pentlands Science Park to hear about how storytelling techniques can be used to communicate science more effectively to inspire change and uptake of new technologies.
Set up by farmers for farmers, the Moredun Foundation is one of the largest livestock charities in the UK and governs the work of the world renowned Moredun Research Institute. The mission of the organisation is to improve the health and welfare of livestock through research and education.
The Princess Royal was joined by over 80 guests to hear more about Moredun’s work in using creative ways to communicate new advances in science and technology to encourage more people to change practices to improve the health and welfare of livestock and sustainable agricultural practices.
The speakers at the event included John Cameron, Honorary President of The Moredun Foundation who emphasised the importance of effective communication between scientists and farmers to make sure that the science could maximise benefits. Stewart Burgess described the UK wide projects Moredun was leading on the prevention and control of sheep scab that relied very much on working together with farmer groups to tackle the disease; Chris Cousens spoke about the research on Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) and how the thoracic scanning was being deployed on farms to reduce the impact of the disease. Two of Moredun’s early career researchers, David Smith and Lynsey Melville talked about the challenges and inspiration for them to have a career in scientific research and Lee Innes, Moredun’s Director of Communications, described a recent project working in collaboration with Scottish photographer Kevin McCollum, using photography to tell the stories of livestock keepers working in remote areas of Scotland.
Mr Gareth Baird, Chairman of the Moredun Foundation said,
“We are delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to our event highlighting the critical role of communication to encourage the uptake of new science and technologies to improve the health and welfare of livestock. The Moredun Foundation has a long history of scientists and farmers working together to find solutions to infectious diseases and creative communication is key to bring benefits to as many people as possible”.
During the visit, The Princess Royal met guests including a group of post-graduate students and early career scientists along with those representing the farming industry, public engagement in science and the Equine Grass Sickness Fund. Her Royal Highness also participated in a private tour of Moredun’s laboratories to speak first hand to the scientists about the latest research advances. Before leaving, The Princess Royal planted a tree at Pentlands Science Park as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy and in memoriam of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.