STSM Norwegian Veterinary Institute (August 2021)

After some complications due to the ongoing pandemy, a first postponement of the dates planned for the STSM and uncertainty about the possibility be able at all to fly to Norway up to the last moments, I was really glad and relieved when I finally arrived in Oslo.

The objective of this STSM was to conduct the first steps of a scoping review about the use of scenario tree models to assess freedom from animal diseases. Because of the postponement, and because the topic was also very interesting and I could not wait to begin, we already have had some meetings with Dr. Petter Hopp, my supervisor in Oslo, as well as with the leaders and co-leaders of the Working Groups 3 and 4. Therefore, the protocol for the scoping review was already well advanced before I actually took the plane.

In Norway, I enjoyed three amazing weeks at the Veterinary Institute, and not the less thanks to Dr. Petter Hopp, who was not only a great advisor for the actual project, but also a proficient provider of tips about Norway and Oslo, from places to see to great Norwegian literature works. But because an STSM in not only a chance for cultural enrichment, we also performed hard work and achieved to retrieve and screen published articles and grey literature by title and abstract, as well as preparing forms for the full text screening and the data extraction. We also have prepared some sections (mainly Material and Methods) for a journal article in prevision of the publication of the results of the scoping review.

I will stay active within the project, and we are all eager to continue the next step of the review with another young scientist through a next STSM.

I cannot express enough my thanks to the SOUND Control for this opportunity. I learned a lot about reviews and about the method we aim at reviewing, but also took home more than just professional experience. And with that, I do not only mean brown cheese 😉

Gary Delalay
Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Switzerland