Raising the baa: Animal science student wins global award

Animal science student Leesa-Joy Flanagan has won a major international award
Animal science student Leesa-Joy Flanagan has won a major international award

Research into lamb growth, health and profitability has landed animal science student Leesa-Joy Flanagan a major international award.

The now honours student was recently awarded the Alltech Global Young Scientist Award which includes a $5,000 prize and a fully-funded PhD scholarship.

In the final year of her Bachelor of Science (Animal Science), Leesa-Joy investigated the impact of different nitrogen sources on the growth, health and profitability of lambs in feedlot production systems.

Students in the animal nutrition course are responsible for designing the trial, managing the lambs on a daily basis, collecting and analysing the data and writing a scientific paper.

Leesa-Joy earlier won the Asia-Pacific region young scientist challenge. She was awarded a trip to Kentucky, USA to present this research at the ‘Alltech Global Challenge of Ideas’ Conference.

Leesa-Joy’s application to the Global Challenge was supported by Professor Phil Hynd and Dr Rebecca Forder, our animal and veterinary science course coordinators.

Prof Hynd said that the award was a tremendous boost to Leesa-Joy’s future career in animal science.

“Perhaps the greatest reward is the networking she has established within one of the biggest animal nutrition companies in the world,” he said.

“We are very proud of our animal science program and the success of our students internationally.

“It shows the value of the program and of injecting a research culture in our teaching programs.”

Leesa-Joy is currently completely an honours year investigating factors associated with the prevalence of ecchymosis in sheep.

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Tagged in Research, Awards, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, Davies Research Centre