Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC) in Inverness takes on challenges facing Scotland’s health, agriculture and aquaculture industries

At a lab tucked away on Inverness Campus, a group of ghillies from various sporting estates recently spent a day learning how to carry out post mortems on wild fish.

The state-of-the-art research facility may have been a world away from their usual outdoor working environment but it provided a valuable opportunity to learn about identifying pathogens in wild stock - plus an insight into the state of our rivers.

The ghillies’ day in the classroom is just one of a wide range of projects being carried out at the pioneering Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC) to find solutions to some of the challenges facing farming, aquaculture, animal and human health.

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The £12.5 million Inverness centre, which was officially opened a year ago, is already putting the Highlands on the global map thanks to work being carried out in the suite of laboratories while the meeting rooms and lecture theatre are drawing people together to look at local and international issues.

Developed by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), it aims to foster closer links between science and industry and generate income through a mix of research, consultancy, veterinary services and commercial engagement.

Dr Adam Giangreco, RAVIC’s head of business development, reflects on the past 12 months which have seen the centre support more than 100 businesses while 40 per cent of the commercial space is occupied.

There is also growing interest in the centre’s virtual partnership, enticing organisations such as the National Farmers’ Union and Food Standards Scotland to make use of the facilities.

“As a result of that, we have helped 600 to 800 people through the door,” Dr Giangreco said.

“We have done a whole variety of events from teaching ghillies how to deal with post mortems and look for health conditions in wild caught salmon on their estates to helping farmers - with our agricultural consultants - around improving the health and welfare around tail docking and castrating lambs.”

Highlighting RAVIC’s “very significant” global reach, he said some of the research is influencing health schemes and eradication schemes in Europe while last year, SRUC co-hosted 200 delegates from as far afield as Asia, South America and Africa at an international conference to learn about the latest products and technologies in the animal and agricultural sectors.

RAVIC-based Derek Hanton, is the area development manager with SRUC’s SAC Consulting which offers advice, and solutions to the agricultural sector.

He revealed how working with RAVIC has had practical benefits locally for farmers.

His organisation took part in the project, which also involved veterinary practices, to encourage farmers to use a Clipfitter castration and tailing system as opposed to traditional banding methods.

It extended the length of time the procedure can be carried out from one week to three months.

“It was based on research done by the SRUC looking at the welfare of animals during that procedure and an assessment of pain,” he said.

“It has been very successful.”

The centre is also enabling those at the start of their careers to carry out vital research.

Setting up the apparatus in one of the labs, PhD student Keir Beaton talked about his study of parasites in marine mammals such as whales or dolphins.

He explained how he mashes up DNA extracted from mammals which have died to examine how parasites interact with their hosts.

To a lay person, it may sound a complex and esoteric piece of work but it can shed light on the impacts of climate change.

“It can help give an indication of the health of the seas,” said Keir who returned to the Highlands after studying at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

“We are starting to see some types of parasites coming into colder waters.

“Some of the research can be useful in how you might negate the impacts of climate change and overfishing.”

Fellow PhD student Sarah Dagen is researching parasites on farmed salmon.

“It is a really huge problem in farms,” she said.

The results of her work will feed into broader ongoing studies to better understand the challenges and improve fish farming practices.

The importance of such work is underlined given Scottish salmon is the UK’s top food export, notching up sales worth £578 million annually.

It highlights the ethos underpinning RAVIC which aims to bridge the gap between science and industry by creating opportunities for collaborative entrepreneurship, commercial development and education.

Research associate Toby Landeryou is an epidemiologist and studies parasitic diseases whether it is agriculture or aquaculture global health.

His work ranges from investigating the threat of micro jellyfish on the health of farmed fish to bovine viral diarrhoea in cattle and bluetongue - a viral disease that can be spread to livestock by certain species of biting midges.

Toby, who lives in Inverness with his Californian wife and three-year-old son, previously worked at the Natural History Museum and Imperial College in London but was keen to return to the Highlands where he had studied for his PhD.

“I think having previously worked in a big institution, you sometimes feel like a small cog in a big machine,” he reflected.

“Sometimes you have to shout louder to get noticed.”

He felt being part of a small specialist team could sometimes have more impact in implementing its findings on the ground, working alongside local farmers, aquaculture companies and public health services - but also having the ability to roll out the local findings to global institutions.

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