The winning paper explored the effects of the use of 3-nitrooxypropanol in dairy cattle.

The winners wrote and submitted a paper to Veterinary Evidence.

RCVS Knowledge has announced the winners of its Veterinary Evidence Student Awards 2025.

This year’s winning papers cover a variety of species and topics, from anti-parasitic medication, risk scoring and animal behaviour in companion animals to environmental sustainability in dairy cattle.

Royal Veterinary College (RVC) student Justine Cole scooped top prize for her Knowledge  Summary on the effects of the use of 3-nitrooxypropanol in dairy cattle to reduce methane emissions, and whether this has an impact on milk yield.  

Justine, who carried out a critical review of 15  papers, explained: “I am honoured to receive this award, and I hope that others in the dairy industry and veterinary community find this Knowledge Summary as interesting as I did. 
 
“My experience really highlighted the importance of using evidence-based veterinary medicine to evaluate new products in practice. This is especially true when evaluating future solutions within the context of One Health, to ensure that improvements in one domain – such as environmental health – are not achieved at the expense of others, such as animal welfare or public health.”

Open to veterinary undergraduates across the world, the annual awards invite students to write and submit a Knowledge Summary to the open access, peer-reviewed journal, Veterinary Evidence. 

The full list of winners are:

    •    1st  place:  Justine Cole, RVC (UK), ‘Does the methanogenesis inhibitor 3-nitrooxypropanol affect milk yield in dairy cattle?’ 
    •    2nd  place:  Athulya Prakash, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (India), ‘Efficacy of Vincristine-Ivermectin combination therapy in the treatment of Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour’ 
    •    Joint 3rd  place:  Jacqueline Chappell, University of Sydney (Australia), ‘The quick sequential organ failure assessment score as a predictor of mortality in septic dogs’ 
    •    Joint 3rd  place:  Leah Foster, Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand), ‘Thinking inside the box: do hiding boxes reduce the fear and stress of hospitalised cats?’ 

Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief, Peter Cockcroft, said:  “Congratulations  to  all  winners.  It’s  wonderful to see veterinary students from across the world making their first contributions to evidence-based veterinary medicine. I hope that their experience of writing a Knowledge Summary has inspired them to continue doing so throughout their career. 

“Whether  you’re  a student or a qualified veterinary professional, if  you’re  interested in  contributing  to a peer-reviewed  journal  that  provides  the latest  evidence to the veterinary professions, we’d  love to hear  from you.  Our team will support you through the process of  writing and  submitting  your first paper.” 

Image (C) Shutterstock/Parilov.