Ongoing projects

Goal: Health of honey bee colonies is crucial in successful beekeeping and pollination. Veterinarians have a vital role in the health of honey bee colonies and their notifiable disease control and eradication. Also, honey bee colonies are reared mainly because of apian products production intended mainly for human consumption. This veterinary position is reflected in all regulated areas worldwide. It is an area of veterinary medicine to which under graduate students get little exposure during their regular studies of veterinary medicine, except for veterinary students in countries with a certain degree of biology and pathology of bees. This area is often not immediately attractive to young graduates and the continuing entry of graduate students into the beekeeping and apiculture medicine should be fostered on a European and international level.

As all veterinary students need to spend some time gaining laboratory and field work experience in the various fields of the veterinary profession. They also should get practical skills with clinical examinations of honey bee colonies and other veterinarian tasks at apiaries. In collaboration with The University of Zagreb, Department for Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees in Croatia, EVERI (European Veterinarians in Education, Research and Industry) has launched a new EPT (External Practical Training) initiative in beekeeping – project VETS and BEES.

EVERI, the European Veterinarians in Education, Research and Industry is providing an information hub to facilitate contact between students of Veterinary Medicine, the various colleges of specialization and private enterprises on a European and international level. In this context EVERI is aiming to establish external practical trainings opportunities, which fulfill certain conditions demonstrating content, ambition and contribution of the studies to the curriculum to be at best being eligible for credits.
If you are student of Veterinary Medicine at a European veterinary teaching establishments and interested in veterinary in beekeeping, please contact EVERI – ems.everi@fve.org – for the more information (places available, training period, funding, etc…) and for the application form.

Epidemiological studies assessing disease prevalence are critically important to both the identification and control of pathogens in humans and animals (including zoonosis and food borne outbreaks). However, countries typically collect data in a way that is best suited for their specific needs, and non-standardized sampling strategies and diagnostic methods produce prevalence estimates that cannot be directly compared. Hence, the need for harmonization, which has been often highlighted in reports of relevant EU institutions, like the ECDC and EFSA. Despite the availability of appropriate statistical methods – Bayesian Latent Class Models (BLCMs) – that adjust for the imperfect accuracy of the diagnostic process and produce comparable prevalence estimates, the number of research studies and scientific reports that use them is small compared to the number of instances that use of such methods would have been optimal. The objective of this proposal is to coordinate and promote the implementation of BLCMs through networking and knowledge transfer between BLCM experts and researchers working in statistics, epidemiology, diagnostics and population health. Specifically, we will (a) increase the visibility and collaboration of BLCM researchers, (b) promote stakeholder engagement, (c) provide training and networking opportunities for ECIs and ITC researchers, (d) create separate training opportunities for policy makers and stakeholders, (e) establish a free online BLCMs repository, (f) set up an International society for BLCMs and (g) organize the first international conference of this society. The strongest asset of this proposal is its strong interdisciplinary nature and broad network of proposers.

The European Food Safety Authority has recently proposed a generic framework for a modern, flexible and dynamic risk-based meat safety assurance system. Implementation of such a system is expected to be a slow and careful process that would involve its thorough development, fine-tuning and testing its practical feasibility and general impacts. There are many research groups in Europe that currently perform studies, mostly at national level, to fill the knowledge gaps related to such a new system. The main aim of the RIBMINS network is to combine and strengthen European-wide research efforts on modern meat safety control systems. The network will allow exchange of ideas, experience and results of country-level research studies. Furthermore, the aim is to create a platform for training of relevant participants in the new meat safety system and thus help its operability, as well as to inform relevant stakeholders about the requirements, benefits and consequences of the new system. The RIBMINS network will consist of five Working Groups: 1. on scope and targets of meat safety assurance, 2. on farm-level controls and risk categorisation of farms, 3. on abattoir-level controls and risk categorisation of abattoirs, 4. on meat safety assurance system impact with changes, addition and alternatives to meat inspection, and 5. on meat safety assurance system training, communication and monitoring. Overall, the network shall help the full development and implementation of the general principles of meat safety assurance system across Europe for the benefit of consumers, industry and protection of animal health and welfare.

LIFE Lynx project’s primary objective is rescuing the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population from extinction and to preserve it in the long term. Currently, the population is small, isolated, and extremely inbred. It urgently needs reinforcement by introducing additional, healthy animals from another population. We will reinforce the Dinaric-SE Alpine population with lynx from the viable source population in the Carpathians, while maintaining high public support. We will collaborate across all EU countries sharing this population to develop and implement a systematic approach to ensure long-term viability of the reinforced population. We will work closely with core stakeholders to further develop partnerships and to ensure broad public acceptance of lynx conservation. We aim to develop science-based management tools for strategic planning to ensure long-term viability of lynx. These include using computer modelling based on data from the project to understand how to genetically and demographically manage the population for the long term. This scientific information will be incorporated into management plans and other strategic documents. Another objective is to improve population connectivity for lynx. Natural gene flow of lynx within this population will be increased, in order to avoid additional reintroductions in the future. Such a metapopulation will help reduce negative impacts of habitat fragmentation and will reverse genetic deterioration across entire Dinaric-SE Alpine population.

Recent research and surveys among veterinarians show an increasing need for enabling veterinarians with skills to cope with challenges imposed on them by the ever changing world and the enormous strain the profession puts on them. Skill acquisition and development are essential for the performance and modernization of the profession in order to provide new forms of flexibility and security for veterinary professionals. Therefore, the target group of this project are students of veterinary medicine that need to be better prepared for real-life challenges in their future working environment.

The goal of this project is to create a framework, and produce an ideal version of the new soft skills curriculum that would be applicable in veterinary higher education throughout Europe. As it should cover a wide range of life skills to cover all aspects of modern day challenges it will be organized in three sections: interpersonal communication, entrepreneurship and digital skills. The project team will firstly develop a set of recommendations for learning outcomes in life skills, a training concept for education of teachers involved in soft skill teaching and carry out a pilot implementation project of selected modules at implementation partners’ institutions. The intellectual outcomes will be developed in coordination with students’ association, professional association of veterinarians and an accreditation authority for veterinary education establishments within Europe to make sure it responds correctly to the needs of both students and labour market.