VH Faculty is looking for three professors for a new initiative within One Health

The Faculty Board has decided to complement the faculty's overarching role within SLU Future One Health and is now establishing the One Health Hub from the perspective of animal management. The hub has three core areas, each led by a One Health Professor:

1. Comparative Medicine: Animals in systems, animals as systems (link to advertisement)
2. Antimicrobial Resistance: Tackling ineffective drugs (link to advertisement)
3. Securing food supply from healthy animals (link to advertisement)

- Society needs more focus on One Health! And the VH Faculty has what it takes to be a key player—we are the ones who can contribute from the perspective of animal management. At VH, we can connect people, animals, and the environment, and One Health helps address the full spectrum of disease control,” says former Dean Rauni Niskanen.

In December 2023, the Faculty Board and department heads attended a workshop on strategic competency development. One Health emerged as an area where VH can become even stronger.

- The VH Faculty’s work is rooted in the well-being of animals, aligned with the UN’s goals for sustainable development. We are responsible for research, education, and collaboration concerning animal health and welfare, care, feeding, and breeding. Our strategic research initiatives contribute significantly to developing systems for sustainably secured, competitive food production and consumption while enhancing the role of animals in these systems. The One Health perspective is central, as is research on new medical advancements, says former Deputy Dean Dirk-Jan De Koning.

The hub is expected to contribute critically to an increased understanding of the complex interplay between animal health, human health, and ecosystem health, by enabling better living conditions through green transitions to more circular systems, a secure food supply, and enhanced preparedness.

- For VH, we hope that the One Health Hub becomes a catalyst that strengthens collaboration within our disciplines and fosters more interdisciplinary cooperation across faculties and with other institutions. By deepening and broadening our expertise in One Health, we can firmly establish the faculty’s role as a cornerstone in One Health, concludes Rauni Niskanen.