Meet Amelia Garcia-Ara, Assistant Professor in Veterinary Public Health at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham

Hello Amelia! Would you mind briefly describing your current role and professional interests?

I lead and coordinate the undergraduate Veterinary Public Health teaching at the Vet School here in Nottingham. I am also one of the module convenors for our Sustainability embedded module. I am interested in everything to do with anima welfare at slaughter and how to involve farmers and abattoir staff, as well as vets, in decision making.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I usually wake up before 7am, and start working around 8am. My first thing is to make a to-do list of "quick jobs" for the day that I can fit in the breaks of other bigger tasks such as module reviews, rotation planning or the design of new teaching sessions. I usually finish in the same way, checking what I have managed to do and what is left for the next day, and try to answer any emails to start afresh in the morning.

What is your favourite part of the job?

Teaching small groups of students is always very rewarding. The opportunity to collaborate with other colleagues in the UK, and abroad is also something I thoroughly enjoy and value of this job.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Probably some of the marking and exam-making, coming up with new good questions is always challenging for me.

Do you have any tips for achieving a good work-life balance?

For me, i think the best way to achieve this is to enjoy what you are doing and to respect your own priorities.

How do veterinary professionals currently help to drive sustainability?

I think we have great opportunity here through using our spheres of influence. Through talking about the sustainability challenges that we are facing in our profession and we can contribute to; thinking of the unique areas, like parasitic and antibiotic treatments, public education or anaesthesia, or animal welfare, where we can make more of a difference, in addition to having the general conversation on plastic usage and climate change.

What do you feel are the major opportunities to drive sustainability in the veterinary sector?

I think we have great opportunity in reducing the use of antimicrobials, rethinking parasitic treatments for small animals, and working with farmers to learn and promote regenerative farming practices while keeping their businesses profitable.

What are your top tips for veterinary professionals wishing to take the first steps to drive sustainability in their roles?

Having an initial non-judgmental conversation with our clients as well as our colleagues. I think this is a great starting point for us all.

If you could wave a magic wand and make one improvement to drive the sustainability impact of the veterinary profession, what would it be?

I think this would come down to the creation of new policies to financially reward those veterinary practices which make the extra effort on behalf of the environment.