Leeds Trinity University’s Professor of Social and Cultural History is one of six world-leading researchers to have been awarded a grant to collaborate in the study of issues around livestock health and sustainability.

Professor Karen Sayer has been awarded £220,000 from The Wellcome Trust​ to carry out research into the history of endemic livestock disease, which has impacted on human health as well as farm animal welfare.

The research team, led by Professor Abigail Woods at Kings College London, includes leading historians, epidemiologists and sociologists from Leeds Trinity University, Kings College London, University of Hull, Newcastle University, University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow. Overall the team has been awarded £15 million.

Professor Ray Lloyd, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Leeds Trinity University, said: “Karen is a leading historian and this is a fantastic achievement for her and the research group. It is the result of dedicated and long-term work, and is a real testament to the esteem in which Karen and her colleagues are held by the Trust.

“Leeds Trinity is committed to research excellence, and has developed an international reputation as a University where teaching and learning are led by research. This award is another major milestone for the University’s research.”

Professor Sayer said: “I am delighted to be part of this major, interdisciplinary collaborative project. Not only do we hope to draw on farming memories and livestock histories, since the Second World War, we will also be using interdisciplinary research to think ahead to the long-term future of and wellbeing in rural communities.”

Karen has contributed to the CREST community through interdisciplinary working with our other land-based researchers and institutions. We congratulate her on this deserved achievement.

For more information on Karen’s research visit her blog here​.