Randolph Richards is Awarded the CBE

The award, which reflects and pays tribute to outstanding achievement and service right across the community and the nation as a whole, has been bestowed in recognition of his services to veterinary science.

Professor Richards has played a major role in the emerging aquaculture industry in Scotland, being Veterinary Adviser from 1989 to a succession of key industry associations, including the Scottish Salmon Growers' Association, Scottish Quality Salmon and the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation. He has been an active member of a number of joint government/industry working groups and has contributed to the development of industry codes of practice, the Scottish Framework for sustainable Aquaculture and the Scottish Aquaculture Bill.

He has played a key role in the development of the Institute of Aquaculture, which in turn has made a major contribution to the economy of Scotland and greatly enhanced Scotland's reputation throughout the world. Under his leadership, the Institute's international reputation in both research and postgraduate teaching has developed enormously.

Professor Richards' own reputation is recognised by his membership of the UK research Assessment Exercise panel for 2008 and of the international panel of Norway's Research Council Centres of Excellence Scheme since 2001. As a leading fish disease specialist, he has coordinated large EU research programmes on fish diseases and is currently the UK representative of a tri-nation research forum investigating a key salmon disease. He is also a Facilitator in the area of Fish Health and Welfare in the recently formed European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform which informs the EU of industrial research priorities.

He has been recognised by the farming community with the award of the Fellowship of the Royal Agricultural Societies and last year received a prestigious award at the Aquaculture Today conference for his outstanding contribution to Aquaculture. He is currently a Director of the internationally renowned Moredun Research Institute at Edinburgh, which carries out wide-ranging research into animal diseases.

Professor Richards has contributed to wider discussions on fisheries and veterinary matters and was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh inquiry into the Future of the Scottish Fishing Industry (2004) and the UK's Veterinary Products Committee (which licences all animal medicines) for more than 8 years. During this period, the Committee oversaw the development of medicines which helped control the potentially devastating problem of sea lice infestation. Much of the research required for licensing these products and the development of vaccines controlling both bacterial and viral disease were carried out by Professor Richards and his colleagues at Stirling and Machrihanish.

Professor Richards has also contributed generously on an international basis by being an adviser to the EU (DG Fisheries), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and by carrying out projects on behalf of organisations, such as the British Executive Service Overseas. He has undertaken advisory work on aquaculture in Turkey, Ceylon, Sweden, Greece and Morocco and has acted as advisor on fish disease in Israel, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong and the Faroe Islands.

On learning of his award, Professor Richards said: "I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition of my efforts, only made possible with the outstanding support of mentors and colleagues over the years. The award highlights the strength and global reputation of veterinary science in Scotland, not only through research in fish disease at the Institute of Aquaculture at Stirling University but also through our strong links with the Moredun and Roslin Research Institutes at Edinburgh and the two Scottish Veterinary Schools."

For over thirty years, Professor Richards has made an outstanding contribution to the field of aquaculture worldwide and, more specifically, has ensured that Scotland's reputation in this field is unsurpassed. The award is a fitting recognition of a lifetime contribution to Scottish intellectual effort in support of its economy.