Scholarship award for IFR student
A PhD student from the Institute of Food Research in Norwich has received an award from the British Poultry Council for his work on understanding dysbacteriosis, a disease of growing importance in the poultry industry.
Dysbacteriosis is a poorly understood condition that causes enteritis in broiler chickens. It is thought to be due to an overgrowth of the gut microflora. Richard’s work within a group led by Dr Arjan Narbad has focussed on identifying which micro-organinsms may be responsible for the condition.
The gut of chickens, as in humans, is home to many different species of bacteria, the majority of which are beneficial. Richard has been profiling the bacteria in the guts of chickens to try to work out what changes are responsible for the enteritis, and to develop new ways to control or prevent the disease as an alternative to treatment with antibiotics.
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| Richard Bailey receiving his award from Dame Deidre Hutton, Chair of the FSA. Photo: Jonathan Page of Farmers Weekly |
Dame Deidre Hutton, Chair of the Food Standards Agency, presented Richard with his award at the BPC’s annual awards ceremony in the Houses of Parliament. The British Poultry Council is the leading representative organization for companies and individuals engaged in breeding, hatching, farming and processing chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese to produce poultry meat.
Richards’s studentship is funded by the BBSRC and Aviagen, an Edinburgh-based poultry breeding company through the CASE (Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering) scheme that enables students to receive their training in collaboration with industrial partners.
"I felt honoured to be awarded this scholarship as it was totally unexpected. It is fantastic being involved in the poultry industry as it covers a wide range of disciplines and expertise striving to constantly improve animal welfare and food safety." said Richard.
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