Richard Dewhurst

Tell us about yourself (Who are you? Where are you from? What is your educational background?)

Head of the Beef & Sheep Research Centre at SRUC. Responsibility for research on greenhouse gases and feed efficiency at the award-winning GreenCow facility. Educated at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol and worked in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and New Zealand.

What is your area of expertise?

Personal research has focused on ruminant nutrition and production systems with significant contributions at the interfaces between nutrition, product composition and rumen function - notably modelling of forage composition, dry cow feeding strategies, forages and fatty acids, fatty acids and fertility, and rumen diagnostics.

Where does your focus lie within your current project(s)? (related to methane)

Current research is developing markers for feed conversion efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions in ruminants to support application of breeding/genomics and development of precision management tools.

What would be the added value for you of joining an international researchers network? (such as the METHAGENE network)

Science is increasingly large-scale and collaborative – we learn much more by working with colleagues in other countries – who bring new perspectives from their experience with different feeds and animals, as well as diverse experimental facilities.

What and/or who inspired you to make a career in science?

Being raised on a farm gave me a spark to find out how things work, that was developed by my teachers in school and University.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

At all stage of my career, I have enjoyed the variety to my day – finding out new things; meeting new people; encouraging students and younger staff; as well as feeling that some of my work is useful.

What is your most stand-out or surprising moment in science so far?

Receiving the Sir John Hammond Memorial Award from the British society of Animal Science in 2008.