One health and food security
Support our work to better understand the relationships between human, animal and planetary health.
At Edinburgh, we’re concerned with how the health of ecosystems, humans and animals are connected.
Destruction of natural habitats can have an impact on the health and wellbeing of wildlife, while developing effective agricultural practices is critical to ensuring we can produce food to adequately feed growing human populations without significant cost to the environment.
The effects of climate change, deforestation and other environmental challenges are bringing animal and human populations closer together, increasing the likelihood for the spread of zoonotic diseases – those that can be passed between human and animal - and pandemics, as we’ve witnessed with Covid-19.
Addressing these challenges has never been more urgent.
What we're doing
We have large groups of researchers working across disciplines to better understand the relationships between animal health, human health and the environment, and the consequences of those complex interconnected relationships.
Here's a summary of our main hubs for research in this field.
Our Vet School is not only highly regarded for providing clinical services to animals, but here you’ll find the highest concentration of animal scientists in Europe working at our Easter Bush campus, where you’ll also find the world-renowned Roslin Institute.
Our researchers focus on three main themes: animal genetics; infectious diseases, especially those that can be passed between humans and animals; and improving animal production and welfare, and sustainable farming practices.
Vet School researchers are also concerned with improving the health and welfare of domestic animal species and the protection of public health.
We also deliver a comprehensive programme of postgraduate programmes that are designed to help veterinary professionals and animal scientists develop their skills and understanding and make positive contributions to the delivery of health for all, wherever they are in the world.
Support the work of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Feeding the world’s growing population, while protecting the natural systems on which we all depend is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. At the Global Academy for Agriculture and Food Systems, our interdisciplinary team of experts is developing the ideas, research and teaching to contribute to improving understanding of creating more sustainable agriculture methods and systems.
Find out more about the Global Academy for Agriculture and Food Systems.
The pastoral systems of East Africa support the livelihoods of millions of people but are fragile and under increasing threat from population growth, encroachment of arable production and climate change. These centuries-old systems have always been subject to periodic shocks, but these have been amplified by these recent drivers.
With support from Community Jameel, a new centre hosted by the University of Edinburgh, has been established to identify ways to forecast environmental threats to agriculture and food production drawing from Edinburgh’s expertise in data science, remote-sensing and AI technologies, co-creating research with community partners to ensure research findings can be applied within local communities to make a day-to-day impact.
Partner with us
If you would like to find out more about our work in this area and opportunities for partnership, please get in touch with our philanthropy team.
Nicole Bell
Senior Philanthropy Officer
- Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
- The University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Work: +44 (0)7407 871 848
- Email: nicole.bell@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
Charles Stewart House
9-16 Chambers Street- City
- Edinburgh
- Post Code
- EH1 1HT