LinkTADs final dissemination event in China

On 19th October 2016 a special session was organised within the Framework of the 12th Symposium of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, with the aim to showcase LinkTADs accomplishments and to share ideas on how to maintain the excellent network established during the project duration.

The event included a poster session and a conference lasting two hours; it gathered around 60 participants from Chinese veterinary institutes, agricultural universities and industry, besides LinkTADs partners.

The project coordinator, Daniel Beltrán-Alcrudo from FAO, introduced the project’s structure and highlighted the major achievements of the project in terms of networking opportunities (workshops), webinars, short academic exchanges, joint laboratories, trainings, dissemination and project proposals.

Xin Dong from SPI later took the floor, delivering a presentation on behalf of Mr. Nicolas Dandois from the EU Delegation to China; the slides provided an insight on EU-China cooperation and future opportunities, especially the EU-China Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology (FAB) Flagship initiative. Xin then moved on to present LinkTADs online resources, more specifically the open-access database of funding and partners developed by LinkTADs to facilitate the researchers to find international partners and funding opportunities.

Dr. Zhizhong Ma, from Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, introduced the joint research and exchange activities supported by LinkTADs. Under WP7 of LinkTADs, the Chinese partners (CAHEC, SHVRI and HVRI) and European partners (RVC, CIRAD and SVA) implemented a series of short-term academic visits and exchange programmes. International joint labs were established and joint research on JEV, ASFV and PRDC has been and is currently being conducted by the EU and Chinese partners.

Last but not least, Ana Mateus from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) gave an overview of the applied research and teaching opportunities between the EU and China to the audiences. The importance of the China Field Epidemiology Training Programme for Veterinarians (China FETPV) was particularly stressed.

The audience showed considerable interest and a Q&A session quickly started.