Georgios Efthimiou, Centre for Biomedicine, University of Hull
A COST Action is a bottom-up, interdisciplinary, pan-European research network funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program, designed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers and innovators across various science and technology fields. In September 2023, I joined a COST action focused on the use of medicinal plants for veterinary purposes (CA22109). As a part of this action’s activities, I designed and delivered two 1-hour lecture presentations: one on the testing methods for medicinal plant extracts and another on their veterinary applications and outcomes. This was done in collaboration with a colleague from Romania, Dr Diana-Mihaela Alexadru from the University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest. The workshop was named ‘Herb power for animal health: from tradition to legislation’ and was held on 12-14 February 2025 in Warsaw, Poland. The total number of attendees was 19, most veterinary students or practitioners and they came from many different European countries including Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Romania and Italy. The delivery of my session was made via MS Teams and was followed by an assessment quiz of 20 MCQs, as well as 4 short answer questions. Games and other innovative teaching approaches were efficiently employed. Feedback from the participants was excellent, 95% of the attendees found our lectures useful and enjoyable. We aspire to continue delivering similar sessions at different European locations and educate more delegates about medicinal plants and their beneficial veterinary uses, until August 2027 when the action ends.
Conference theme: International Partnerships