I am involved in economics and KE in EPIC. My research interests lie in supporting the decisions farmers and other stakeholders make that promote animal health and welfare. These decisions are rarely concerned exclusively with disease prevention and control. I am therefore interested in interdisciplinary research methods that use socio-economic approaches that encompass whole farm and food systems yet integrate with the epidemiology of farm animal disease processes within a decision support framework.
This provides a powerful platform to address a range of research questions. For example, by modelling the decision makers’ actions it is possible to explore the role that people play in the epidemiology of farm animal disease. This can often be as important as the characteristics of the animal, pathogen and environment. A systems approach also allows exploration of the contribution animal health can make to wider concerns such as food security, sustainable agriculture, climate change or socio-economic well-being. There is much more to the economics of animal health than cost-benefit analysis.
However, the impact of EPIC research ultimately depends upon the uptake of research findings by end users. While economic arguments can help to promote best practice, EPIC’ s success depends upon active participation of end users and stakeholders throughout the research process and hence ownership of the outcomes. This requires that excellent KE is at the heart of EPIC.
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