Research

As the name of the Department suggests, the clinical research conducted at the Department of Production Animal Medicine focuses on domestic animals. The Department aims to study animal diseases and specifically to promote animal health and welfare. Activities are guided by the Department’s own research policy. The deputy head of the Department is responsible for organising regular research seminars.

As a rule, professors lead the research groups in their own fields, but some larger fields have research groups led by other experts (adjunct professors/docents). To date, research projects have received funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES), the busines sector and public as well as private foundations. Research on animal welfare has also received funding from Nordic sources. In fact, the Department’s aim is to increase the amout of external funding.

The Department is expected to produce three doctoral graduates annually, a goal which the Department surpassed in 2008. The average number of original articles in international peer-reviewed publications has been some 25 per year, whereas the objective is 30 publications annually.

The Department’s cooperation partners include the Faculty’s other departments, other departments at the University of Helsinki (Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Faculty of Medicine), other Finnish universities (Kuopio and Turku), research institutes operating under government ministries (the Finnish Food Safety Authority, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute), as well as a number of universities and research institutes abroad.