Moredun has been highly commended for the Place-based Impact Award at Interface’s 10th Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards for its role in the Scottish Government-funded Sheep Scab Control Programme on Lewis & Harris. This prestigious award recognises the project’s outstanding success in disease control through coordinated community collaboration.
Beyond its impact on livestock health, the programme has been widely praised for its positive social impact—helping to bring together different generations of crofters. The collaborative effort reignited a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose, rebuilding working relationships within villages and crofting townships.
With 32 individuals, teams, and projects shortlisted across 10 categories, this year’s 10th-anniversary celebration was the largest to date, shining a spotlight on ground-breaking innovations across diverse sectors, including renewable energy, mental health, education, sport, medicine, and food and drink.
Stew Burgess, Moredun, commented:
“Being Highly Commended by the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards is a tremendous recognition of the hard work and dedication of everyone involved—from our project partners to the crofters of Lewis and Harris, who came together to make this initiative a success. This project wasn’t just about tackling sheep scab; it was about rekindling a sense of community, strengthening bonds, and proving that collaboration can lead to real, lasting change. Seeing the crofting community unite around this effort, even for a short time, was truly awesome.”
The awards ceremony took place on the 19th March at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Lewis & Harris Sheep Scab Control Project
The Lewis and Harris Sheep Scab Control Project is a pioneering effort led by Moredun scientists in partnership with:
- Lewis and Harris Sheep Producers Association
- The Old Mill Veterinary Practice (Hector Low, Stornoway)
- Scottish Government
- The Crofters of Lewis & Harris
- Lewis Crofters
- Neil Fell Mobile Dipping Ltd
- Zoetis Animal Health Ltd
- Bimeda Ltd
Moredun’s team worked closely with local coordinators to recruit crofters for a plunge dipping campaign, incentivising participation through assistance with animal gathering and subsidised treatment using organophosphate dip.
Key Achievements:
- Over 400 crofters participated, with almost 60,000 sheep collectively dipped (>90% of the island’s sheep population)
- Tackled challenges posed by the crofting systems, with contiguous boundaries and extensive use of common grazing.
- Coordinated the gathering and dipping of sheep within a tight time frame, using an innovative mobile dipping system to ensure treatment compliance and safe handling of sheep.
- A monumental team effort ensured sheep were gathered, treated, and safely returned to grazing while also managing the disposal of waste dip responsibly.
This initiative has revitalised traditional collaborative working practices that had waned due to changes in crofting and more recently with covid. By fostering a community-led approach, the project not only achieved high disease control coverage but also enhanced social well-being within the crofting community.
A Quote from one of the crofters involved in the project