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NTU Professor invited to speak by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation

Emily Burton, Professor of Sustainable Food Production in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, has recently returned from CEVET – a Continuing Education for Veterinarians three-day conference held in Bangladesh.

Emily Burton at CEVET Bangladesh
Professor Emily Burton with conference delegates at CEVET Bangladesh

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) invited Professor Burton to deliver two talks on the interface between poultry nutrition and health. The event was part of the FAO promotion of a One Health approach, supporting agrifood system transformation for the health of people, animals, plants and the environment.

Speaking to practising vets who support poultry production as a vital and high quality protein source in developing countries, Professor Burton explained how correct nutrition reduced disease incidence and subsequent antibiotic use. As veterinarians in developing countries adopt a One Health approach to animal health to reduce spread of antimicrobial resistance, this kind of information offers practical routes to reduce antibiotic usage.

“All my research focuses on using nutrition as a tool to make food production sustainable, so being invited by the FAO to share my knowledge on how we can reduce antibiotic use through improved poultry nutrition felt like great use of my career to date," explained Professor Burton.

“Over the past few years, I have learned from colleagues such as Samantha Mclean and Jody Winter about the global impact of antimicrobial resistance and been inspired by One Health project leads Dr Linda Gibson and Professor Philippe Wilson, so it felt great to be able to make my own contribution to this global challenge.

“Alongside my co-lead Donna Champion, our mission in the Sustainable Futures Strategic Research Theme is to support colleagues in working together across schools to tackle major issues, so this was a nice chance to practise what we preach.”

The conference organisers stated that to embrace the challenges in the changing community, academic institutions, veterinary services and regulatory bodies need to work together for the profession. Emily’s information and advice on poultry nutrition directly supports their objective of developing the competencies of the veterinary workforce to provide technically sound advice and services.

“This is a great example of NTU living out our aspiration to be a University where research is applied and not abstract — where it supports teaching, delivers meaningful answers, and improves real lives in real time," Professor Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor of NTU, comments.

Published on 9 December 2022
  • Subject area: Sciences including sport sciences
  • Category: Research; Staff; School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences