OPINION: Editor Jane in full flow

As I get closer to the end of my PhD, I’m at a place in my work that is exciting. The research is done and the content decided on, and editor Jane is in full flow.

I find editing hard work, but what I hadn’t expected was to feel that the time is coming to share more about my findings. There is so much in the thesis and also so much that will be left out that are both equally as important in the overall history of the RCVS and the veterinary surgeon.

A thesis has to answer the research questions set so not everything I have found is needed in the write up. This means I have a nice pile of “nuggets” of veterinary history to wow the world with once I am finally a Dr.

Competitions

Until then I have been using some of these nuggets to enter essay competitions. Yes, sounding a bit like a Blue Peter badge winner I have entered two competitions so far.

The first was the World Association for the History of Animal Health (WAHAH). This association has been formed from the World Association for History of Veterinary Medicine (WAHVM) and incorporates veterinary, animal and agricultural histories. My topic for the essay was:

“The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and Privy Council: Negotiations of Governance”

This covered some of the findings of my thesis being applied to the governance proposals of today.

Yes, there are elements of veterinary history that are relevant today. Well, suspense over, I got runner up. No cigar, but a prize and the opportunity to go to the conference this year in South Korea.

Even better than the prize was the feedback where my essay attempt was called “ambitious”. But in the nicest way, who said there were no positives from the CMA and DEFRA consultations?

Once the conference is over I can share the full essay, but for now think of it as a new way to view veterinary history.

Veterinary surgeons were not an oppressed trade being used by human surgeons or an influential part of animal medical care progression. Instead, veterinary professional progression sat somewhere in between these two common narratives.