FECAVA Travel Scholarship deadline extended
3 May 2017
he deadline to apply for the FECAVA Travel Scholarship has been extended to 31st May 2017.
The FECAVA Travel Scholarship is an initiative that enables groups of small animal veterinary surgeons from different parts of Europe, to visit each other for a few days and observe each other’s practice experience. The scholarship, totalling €2,000 per year, is made possible through the support of LABOKLIN, who partner FECAVA on this project.
To apply for the 2017 programme, companion animal vets from UK practices are invited to submit an application giving a description of the members of the group and identifying three potential regions in Europe (within FECAVA member countries) which they would like to visit.
Find out more details on the application process
The winning applications for the 2016 FECAVA Travel Scholarship were announced at the FECAVA Congress in Vienna and were awarded to Marisa Luisa Suárez and Frida Quintano from Spain and Bieke Lannoy and Koen De Bleecker from Belgium. The Spanish vets visited Belgium in October and the Belgian vets will be travelling to Spain soon. Read all about the first leg of their exchange below for inspiration.
Spanish FECAVA Travel Scholarship winners visit Belgium
Frida Quintano and Marisa Suárez recently travelled to Belgium on the first leg of the FECAVA Travel Scholarship.
The Spanish vets visited Bieke Lannoy and Koen De Bleecker in Brakel with the aim of learning more about the veterinary world in Belgium.
The first morning was spent at Bieke’s practice watching consultations and sharing knowledge and expertise. During the afternoon, Beike took Frida and Marisa to a local animal shelter and carried out some canine physiotherapy sessions. In the evening, the vets attended a charity music concert for a Gambian project the Belgian vets are involved with.
The next day was spent sightseeing and eating typical Belgian food (mussels) in Bruges.
Monday was spent at the Ghent Veterinary School where the vets were taken on a tour of the facilities including the hospital, operating theatres and museum.
After lunch and more sightseeing, the vets headed for Brussels to attend to a VSF (Vets Without Frontiers) meeting at the European Parliament. The group found the meeting very interesting.
The last day was spent consulting back at Bieke’s practice. The vets exchanged experiences and advice on how to deal with difficult clients and during the afternoon, the vets visited a canine sport dogs training centre.
Marisa has fond memories of her time in Brackel: “We enjoyed nice sightseeing, interesting meetings and visits and had a nice time with our Belgian colleagues with whom we have been able to share great talks. Frida and I are looking forward to their travel to Northern Spain for the second part of the scholarship.”