New EAAP President: Danish Cattle Expert
DENMARK - A Danish expert in dairy cattle research has taken up the post as president of the European Association for Animal Production.The European Federation of Animal Science/European Association for Animal Production, (EAAP), has a new president, and he is a Dane. Senior scientist Kristen Sejrsen from the Department of Animal Health, Welfare and Nutrition at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (DJF), Aarhus University, took up his post at the annual meeting of the organisation in Lithuania, at which there were 800 participants. The term of the new president runs from 2008 to 2012.
Kristen Sejrsen carries out research in dairy cattle with a focus on milk composition in relation to its significance for human health. He leads a comprehensive research network, ”Tailor-made milk and human health”, supported by the Danish Council for Strategic Research, the Danish Dairy Research Foundation, the Danish Cattle Federation and Thise Dairy, among others. Apart from Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark also participate in the project.
EAAP was established in 1949 and has 41 member countries. The aim of the organisation is to improve conditions for animal husbandry and livestock research in the member countries. The members are organisations that represent research, authorities, advisory services, and various other parts of the agricultural sector. Besides holding scientific congresses and workshops, EAAP publishes the journal ”Animal” in collaboration with the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and the French agricultural science institute l’Institut Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA).
The new president aims to continue and improve the activities that EAAP has already initiated. The annual meeting will be extended with a series of workshops, so that next year the meeting will last for five days and include about 40 sessions. There will also be an improved presentation of the abstracts from the meeting and they will be made available on the Internet. The journal Animal is doing well, but EAAP would like to continue improving it and the organisation will also work on making individual personal membership possible.
- As it stands now, only countries and organisations can become members. That means there is not such good contact between EAAP and the individual members. I would also like to see more advisors and people from the industry as members, says Kristen Sejrsen.
At the annual meeting in Lithuania senior scientist Mogens Vestergaard, Department of Animal Health, Welfare and Nutrition, DJF, was elected chairman of EAAP’s physiology commission and head of research unit John E. Hermansen, Department of Agroecology and Environment, DJF, was elected national Danish representative.
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