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Silcock fund supports new agri-food researchers

Posted 12 July 2017

The long standing Silcock Fellowship scheme, which is funded by a generous donation from the Silcock family, continues to reap rich rewards for early career researchers.

Over the past six years, three PhD Silcock Studentships have been funded, enabling the recipients to realise their ambition of becoming fully fledged animal scientists

“The Silcock Studentships have had a tremendous impact so far,” explained Carwyn Ellis, Head of the Animal Production, Welfare and Veterinary Sciences.

“Stephen Mansbridge has completed his PhD and has joined the lecturing staff of the university, in a role partly sponsored by Dairy Crest. Dr Gemma Charlton has been appointed as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Isobel Whiting has just completed her PhD.

“The three researchers’ projects covered pig, poultry and dairy production and now we are looking to launch the next studentships, two over the next two years, for which colleagues will be invited to put topics forward as research supervisors.

“These recent successes build on the previous achievements of earlier Silcock Scholars in furthering their careers in animal and agricultural science.”

Peter Duckworth, stepson of the late Richard (Dick) Silcock in whose memory the donation was made, said: “The Silcock family and trustees responsible for setting up the Silcock Fellowship are very pleased to hear of the progress made thanks to the fund. It means a great deal to us to hear about the impact the Fellowship is having.

“Richard Silcock was a remarkable man and well deserves to be remembered by future generations in the world of agriculture.”

added: “I owe my thanks to the Silcock family for having the foresight to invest in the future of animal production. Their financial support was invaluable during my three years as a PhD student and I look forward to meeting the next candidates to benefit from the fund.”