Report of the General Board on the establishment of an Alborada Professorship of Equine and Farm Animal Science

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. Large domestic animals are central to human life. While horses are very rarely used as work animals in Britain, they are elsewhere and they provide a major recreational resource, contributing considerably to the national economy. Other farmed animals are key to the security of the food supply, and help maintain and shape the countryside. All of these domestic animals are threatened by diseases, some of which can be serious problems for human health. The recent foot and mouth and bluetongue outbreaks indicate the importance of protecting our livestock against such diseases, and developing our understanding of the causes of such diseases and appropriate therapies.

2. The Department of Veterinary Medicine plays a key role in educating students in the practice of veterinary medicine as applied to equids and other farmed animals. Provision of education on equids and farm animals is currently organized into separate sections. It is the view of the Department that these subjects would be better delivered from a single Equine and Farm Animal Science section and that to do this academic leadership at a senior level is required.

3. The Department has a thriving research programme, enhanced recently by the Cambridge Infectious Disease Consortium, which has brought the principles of epidemiology and mathematical biology to bear on a range of diseases, particularly those of large animals. Research on cartilage and bone remodelling, and stem cells in horses, as well as different clinical research projects in the equine and farm animal species, also contribute towards an environment within which the Department is well placed to develop a major veterinary research programme, and enhance teaching and clinical practice by application and translation of that research.

4. The Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine and the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences thus recommend the establishment of a new Professorship of Equine and Farm Animal Science for a single tenure. The Professor would be a key member of the Department's Executive Committee and senior management structure and he or she would be charged with bringing together the equine and farm animal sections of the Department. The Professor would be expected to generate a substantial original research programme in the area and to act as a catalyst and a bridge to enable more clinical research to be undertaken into diseases of these important species.

5. The Alborada Trust, which supports veterinary causes and associated research in the UK and Ireland devoted to the welfare of animals, has agreed a donation of £1.44m payable over ten years which will enable the proposed Alborada Professorship of Equine and Farm Animal Science to be supported for a period of ten years, and provide a contribution towards departmental support costs. Any additional costs associated with the new office will be met from resources allocated to the School of the Biological Sciences including those released by holding in abeyance the University Lectureship that became vacant on 1 August 2005 by the retirement of Dr D. R. Wise. In the event that the Professorship is vacated before the end of the ten-year period, the Professorship would be re-established for a further period in order to ensure that the donor's intention, to support a Professorship for ten years, is met. The General Board have accepted the School's proposal for the establishment of the Professorship on this basis. They have accordingly agreed that, if the recommendations of this Report are approved, they will hold that University Lectureship in abeyance for the period of tenure of the Professorship.

6. The Board are satisfied that an appointment at this level will be likely to attract a strong field of applicants. They are assured that suitable accommodation is available in the Department of Veterinary Medicine for the Professor and the Department have undertaken to provide the necessary support and facilities. The Board have agreed that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature should be open to all persons whose work falls within the title of the Professorship.

7. The General Board recommend:

I. That a Professorship of Equine and Farm Animal Science be established, for a single tenure, from 1 October 2008, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Veterinary Medicine.

II. That the title of the Professorship be the Alborada Professorship of Equine and Farm Animal Science until 30 September 2018.

II. That regulations for the Alborada Fund for Equine and Farm Animal Science, as set out in the Schedule to this Report, be approved.

SCHEDULE

Alborada Professor of Equine and Farm Animal Science. 2008. Veterinary Medicine

1. The sum of £1.44m to be received over ten years from The Alborada Trust to support a Professorship in Equine and Farm Animal Science shall form a fund called the Alborada Fund for Equine and Farm Animal Science.

2. The capital and the income of the Fund shall be available for the payment of the stipend, national insurance, and pension contributions of the Alborada Professor of Equine and Farm Animal Science, together with associated costs within the Department of Veterinary Medicine, payable by the University during the tenure of the Professorship.

3. After provision has been made in accordance with Regulation 2, the capital and the income of the Fund may be applied for the support of teaching or research in some aspect of Equine and Farm Animal Science in such a manner as shall be approved by the General Board on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine.

4. As far as possible and except as permitted by The Alborada Trust, equal weight will be given to the areas of equine science and farm animal science in all aspects of the Professorship and in the use of the capital and income of the Fund for teaching and research.

5. Any unexpended income in a financial year may be expended in any one or more subsequent years in accordance with Regulations 2 and 3.

6. If at the end of the term of the Professorship any part of the capital or income of the Fund remains unspent, such unspent part shall be returned to The Alborada Trust for its general charitable purposes.

J. W. NICHOLLS, Registrary

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE 'REPORTER'