Ken Laughlin

Sadly, Ken Laughlin, one of the world's most respected animal welfare and poultry breeding experts, died in April 2012 after a period of illness. Ken was most recently group vice-president for policy and strategy at Aviagen before retiring in 2008. His expertise was recognised by the award of the 15th Temperton Fellowship in 2007 for his work on 'The Evolution of Genetics, Breeding and Management' . He studied zoology at Durham University, followed by a PhD on incubation in wild bird populations. I met him first in 1969 at the Edward Grey Institute, Oxford University, at the annual meeting for students. Ken was then a research student in Scotland, working I recall with Tufted Ducks. Ken then worked at the Poultry Research Centre and he was a founder member of the IFRG (at that time IRG). It was while Ken was at the PRC that he and Christine Mather published three seminal papers on the storage of hatching eggs (1,2,3). These are featured in the British Poultry Science Virtual Special Issue. Thereafter he worked for Marshalls in Edinburgh, Cobb, and in South Africa before joining Aviagen in 2003. Ken returned to the IFRG meetings when he attended the 30th anniversary meeting in Lincoln in 2005. He will be much missed.

GKB 06/2012

1. Mather, C. M.& Laughlin, K. F. (1976) Storage of hatching eggs: The effect on total incubation period. British Poultry Science 17 (5): 471-479.

2. Mather, C. M.& Laughlin, K. F. (1977) Storage of hatching eggs: The effect on early embryonic development. British Poultry Science 18 (5): 597-603.

3. Mather, C. M.& Laughlin, K. F. (1979) Storage of hatching eggs: The interaction between parental age and early embryonic development. British Poultry Science 20 (6): 595-604.