About - Contributers
Prof Jimmy Turnbull
Senior Lecturer, Insititute of Aquaculture, University of Stirlingjft1 at stir.ac.uk
Jimmy Turnbull qualified as a veterinarian from the University of Edinburgh in 1980, he then spent 6 years in veterinary practice dealing with farm and pet animals before following his main interest by taking a MSc in Aquatic Veterinary Studies at the Institute of Aquaculture, Stirling. He moved onto a part time PhD studying a production disease problem in Atlantic salmon whilst working as a diagnostician and health consultant to a group of fish farms. He is now a senior lecturer in Aquatic Animal Health at the Institute of Aquaculture, where he is the director for MSc courses in Aquatic Veterinary Studies and Aquatic Pathobiology. His research over the last 15 years has been related to aquatic animal population health and welfare and much of that work has been in collaboration with colleagues from many parts of South and South East Asia.
During the 1990s his research expanded to include studies on fish welfare as well as health and productivity. As a result he has provided technical advice on fish welfare to several NGOs, DEFRA, the State Veterinary Service, and the Council of Europe. He currently has a number of research grants related to fish welfare including two DEFRA funded grants, one industry funded PhD studentship, one charity funded PhD studentship, he also participates in an EU COST action on fish welfare and is involved in a current EU STREP proposal on fish welfare.
Dr Ben North
My first degree was in marine biology after which I took an MSc in aquaculture, which included a Leonardo da Vinci work placement at an IFREMER shellfish laboratory. I carried out my PhD at Stirling University where my thesis investigated the relationships between stocking density and welfare in rainbow trout. An integral part of this research was been the development of systems for assessing fish welfare (both on-farm and in experimental systems). I am currently employed on a Defra funded project (AW1205) investigating interactions between water quality deterioration and trout welfare.
Dr Toby Knowles
Senior Lecture, Animal Welfare & Behaviour Group, University of BristolToby.Knowles at bris.ac.uk
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The Animal Behaviour & Welfare Group, is based at the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Science at Langford. The group as a whole has a diverse range of interests, from farm, domestic and companion animals to laboratory and zoo animals, captive and wild cetacea, rural wild animals, hunted animals and reintroduced species. It also has a strong history of working on the welfare of fish.
A number of members of the group have their origins in meat research and this means that the group has a strong interest in flesh quality and its association with welfare. In general, poor welfare will lead to poorer flesh and carcass quality thus quality is a very useful summary measure of the well being of the fish during its life and at the time of slaughter.
The fish welfare group maintains links with many national and international, commercial, research and academic bodies focused on fish production and fish welfare.
Ryan Kaye
Web Applications Developer, University of Stirlingryan.kaye at stir.ac.uk
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Ryan Kaye works for the University of Stirling where he develops web-based tools for the Institute of Aquaculture. He has worked on various projects for the department including the development and design of fishwelfare.net.
He obtained a postgraduate MSc in Information Technology from the University of Stirling following his undergraduate study at the University of Glasgow.