Strategic plan

To provide expert veterinary diagnostic and research services, to contribute to the advancement of pathology and microbiology, and to teach and train the next generation of veterinary surgeons and veterinary pathologists.

We are committed to providing excellent veterinary diagnostic and research services, teaching and knowledge dissemination, as well as contributing to the advancement of pathology and microbiology through our own research, by our qualified academics and support staff. 

We do this by:

• Delivering first-class diagnostic and research services to meet the unique needs of our diverse client pool and being proactive in identifying emerging needs for both referral and first opinion clients
• Advancing scholarship of future veterinary surgeons through state-of-the-art classroom and laboratory instruction 
• Providing in-depth residency training to anatomic and clinical veterinary pathologists for their board-certification
• Conducting and communicating research, both self-driven and collaborative, to advance the fields of pathology and microbiology 
• Serving as a catalyst to build intellectual bridges across the University of Edinburgh’s Schools and beyond
• Creating an inclusive workplace culture that is unified by the goal of serving the health of animals and focused on supporting employee/trainee well-being and growth
• Delivering on the School’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, which foregrounds a One Health approach, by actively participating in school cluster activities.

Our strategic plan has four core pillars:

• Service excellence focuses on delivering high-quality diagnostic and client-focused support. 
• Teaching and training highlights the department’s commitment to educating veterinary students and developing residents through strong, structured training. 
• Building research partnerships emphasizes collaboration—linking researchers, clinicians, and external partners to advance discovery and impact. 
• Workplace culture and stewardship underlines a healthy, respectful team environment and responsible use of resources. Together, these four initiatives form the foundation that upholds the department’s overall strategic direction.

Our strategic ambition is to promote the Department as a high-quality and trusted laboratory for veterinary diagnostic services. We will strengthen our ties with The Royal (Dick) Vet School of Veterinary Studies animal hospitals, by discussing strategic diagnostic testing expansion, as well as with other stakeholders such as national and international clinical and diagnostic groups, as well as commercial and industrial partners. 

Communication and outreach will be enhanced by ensuring a productive web experience for all our clients. Importantly, we want to stay informed of the needs of our clients by creating structured surveys to gather feedback, and ensure responses to the outcomes. 

We see especially opportunities for growth in the following diagnostic areas, allowing us to build and grow our reputation: strengthen our involvement in aquaculture diagnostics, establish a forensic pathology unit, and implement MALDI-TOF in our microbiology unit.

We will continue to deliver quality work by upholding the highest safety and quality standards. This will be accomplished by consolidating reporting formats to deliver consistent output, developing and implementing consistent and enhanced quality system training opportunities, and improve workflows.

To remain responsive, we will determine and evaluate new avenues of service, including emerging and underserved domains, by reviewing and employing cutting-edge technologies and modern tests, as well as creating a network of UK-based academic and private laboratories to share procedures, news and facilitate communication.

Priority investment diagnostic areas:

🗸 Strengthen aquaculture diagnostics.

🗸 Establish a Veterinary Forensic Pathology unit.

🗸 MALDI-TOF for microbiology.

We are committed to delivering quality teaching to Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVM&S) students, and beyond, by delivering relevant and up-to-date teaching materials and by improving the use of digital tools to offer effective and accessible learning experiences. 

We consider student evaluations and comments, and incorporate feedback to improve courses, lectures and practical sessions. In addition to exploring the use of artificial intelligence in training and education, we aim to develop and implement a final year selected rotation in aquaculture in the veterinary curriculum.

Our department also provides clinical and anatomic pathology residency training, and we aim to improve this training through the following. 

🗸 Create and implement clear guidelines, time frames and expectations for residency programmes.

🗸 Have the clinical pathology residents be more involved in the laboratory aspects of the clinical pathology laboratory

🗸 Explore sub-speciality residency programmes for anatomic pathology.

We also provide specialist pathology training, known as externships, to fulfil the requirements of the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation (EBVS) and are actively involved in training activities organized by pathology-focused specialist Colleges.

Our strategic ambition is to promote the department as a premier, high-quality, cutting-edge and trusted laboratory for veterinary, and other, research initiatives. We strive to increase our visibility as a research service hub by creating showcase slides and giving seminars on our research initiatives and services. 

We will communicate with marketing and the Roslin Innovation Centre to enhance our visibility on the media platforms of the Easter Bush campus, and will ensure a productive web experience for our research clients.

We are particularly excited about establishing a data-intensive Phenotyping Unit for Animal Research Models, (ARPaS), in collaborative arrangements with the Roslin Institute and The Centre for Comparative Pathology. We will implement new research services, e.g., an image analysis service in anatomic pathology.

Importantly, we want to enhance Easter Bush Pathology's internal research interests by implementing support for internal research. This is envisioned by providing departmental pump priming funding to generate preliminary data and support grant submissions, as well as by establishing a work-in-progress platform to present grant ideas and discuss preliminary work. 

Priority investment for internal research:

🗸 Departmental pump priming funding to generate preliminary data for grant submissions.

🗸 Work-in-Progress platform to discuss preliminary work and present grant ideas.

Our workplace culture is based on professional unity with a mindset of teamwork, respect and belonging. We will establish an employee recognition committee and a peer support system, especially for new members of our department. We will celebrate successes and learn from each other at our bi-monthly departmental meetings.

By providing our team members with the support to excel at their job, we aim to create a resilient workforce. We will define each member’s role by critically reviewing job descriptions and recognizing the significance of the various aspects of these roles. We will evaluate staffing needs and determine means to increase employee bandwidth by spreading the workload fairly throughout the teams to reduce stress on individual staff members. 

We also strive to strengthen the Department’s collegial contributions to the Easter Bush campus, including the Royal (Dick) School of veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute, through following stewardship.

A successful strategy is ultimately measured by the effectiveness of its implementation. Our strategic plan, albeit ambitious, is both achievable and deeply meaningful to our team members, diverse client pool and service users.

To achieve our strategic goals and objectives, we will execute a range of activities at strategic, foundational and distinctive levels across our four initiative pillars. We will communicate our strategy and goals to all relevant partners, internally and externally, to ensure their understanding and commitment. We will work collaboratively to translate our strategic goals into well-defined actions that will enable us to fulfil our strategic ambitions.

We have prepared a comprehensive implementation plan, outlining the key deliverables in a realistic time frame and putting monitoring tools in place. Progress will be monitored regularly and adjustments will be made if and where applicable. By integrating our strategic plan into our business model, we will ensure that our service initiatives are transformative and represent good value for our investment of time and resources.

Our strategic plan formulates a high-level strategic roadmap for the upcoming five years and we will diligently implement this plan, leveraging it to guide our actions. This plan, however, is not a static document but serves as a foundation for key decision-making processes, guiding us how to prioritize projects and improve initiatives so that our strategy remains relevant and valid.