About VIBE
The Veterinary Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship (VIBE) website is hosted by an alliance of veterinarians, educators and students and aims to help you help animals by facilitating your future success as a veterinarian, a business owner, or both.
University of Adelaide veterinary entrepreneurship elective students
Developing veterinary business skills isn’t just about making money. It’s about keeping yourself healthy, keeping the team you are a part of happy, helping you and your practice progress, and most importantly, it’s about developing the skills you need to be able to provide a better quality of care to the animals you love.
VIBE allows you to step through topics with interactive quizzes, and provides short films, realistic case studies about veterinary practice, and a many other resources that will allow you to re-shape your ideas about veterinary business.
All of these tools will help you gain the skills that you need to be successful in your goals as a vet. Whether your goal is securing a better wage, improving your relationship with clients, learning to manage a clinic, or helping your workplace buy the best equipment, then VIBE is the place for you.
- Students, check out the student resources pages.
- If you are an educator and you would like to contribute to VIBE and access our resource pool, please visit the educator resources pages.
For further information about access to the educator resources pages, please contact Dr Adele Feakes via adele.feakes@adelaide.edu.au
Contributors
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Project team
Dr Adele Feakes
BVSc (Hons) Melb 1983 GCert.HEd
Adele is Lecturer – Veterinary Management and Professional Skills at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and senior veterinarian in private practice.
Adele is passionate about the ability of the profession and the individual veterinarian to adapt to change, and sustainability of rural veterinary services. Her experience as a veterinarian includes working in animal emergency practice, in small animal practice, as a production animal and equine veterinarian while a principal (for 24 years) of a five vet rural veterinary practice in South Australia, as an On Plant Veterinary Officer with the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Veterinary Association.
Adele's teaching interests lie in veterinary student acquisition of professional capabilities including an enterprising and opportunity spotting mind-set for their career. Adele and co-author Diane Whatling have two published case studies for "Veterinary Business and Enterprise – Theoretical Foundations and Practical Cases " Ed. Colette Henry (2014) Saunders Elselvier Edinburgh.
Adele's PhD research interest is in determination of the factors that contribute to the development of both career and entrepreneurial intent, and entrepreneurial capability in veterinary students. Her research includes the relationships (if any) between gender, as well as other factors, to veterinary student entrepreneurial and career sector intent.
Adele is currently project lead in two projects "Veterinary student career intentions and attitudes to non-technical skills" and this OLT funded project "Re-shaping veterinary business curricula to improve graduates' business skills: a shared resource for educators".
Dr Dana Thomsen
BSc PhD
Dr Thomsen was the VIBE project's research assistant and editor as well as the Coordinator of the Writing Centre at University of Adelaide's Roseworthy campus.
Dr Thomsen's research background is in the social and physical sciences with experience in qualitative and quantitative methods and scientific writing. Her passion about high quality student learning and student access to the resources needed to achieve high academic performance, was an asset in the creation of the VIBE website.
Professor Noel Lindsay
BCom (Hons) PhD (Commerce)
Professor Lindsay is University of Adelaide's Dean of Business - Adelaide Business School and Pro Vice Chancellor - Entrepreneurship; and a team member of the VIBE project.
Professor Lindsay leads a team that teaches and undertakes research in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, technology commercialisation, and project management. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and is a Fellow of CPA Australia. He holds practicing certificates with both organisations and has extensive entrepreneurial and private equity investment experience.
Professor Lindsay's input into this project is in the area of business education methodologies, business expertise, business research, quantitative analysis, critique and review of reports and publications and overview.
Associate Professor Edward Palmer
BSc BE(Hons) GCHEd PhD Medicine
Associate Professor Palmer is a Senior Lecturer – Online Learning at University of Adelaide and a team member of the VIBE project.
Edward is a professional educator and evaluator with experience in developing, implementing and analysing the impact of educational initiatives on tertiary students. His fields of interest are technology in education, assessment, game based learning and staff development by mentoring.
Associate Professor Palmer's contribution to the project is as an advisor in design and adaptive innovations and on-line components and in the evaluation of the resources developed.
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Funding partners
Support for this project was initially provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government or the former Office for Learning and Teaching.
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Other contributors
Dr Andrew Dallimore
DVM, MBA, B.Med.Sc.
Andrew was a student research assistant in the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Adelaide; and a postgraduate veterinary student at the University of Melbourne. He is now working as a veterinarian.
Andrew's major roles in the VIBE project were to:
- provide a student's perspective on the project;
- advise on making case studies and supporting documentation more approachable for students; and
- to proof read and edit other components of VIBE.
Andrew is expanding his network and hoping to share learning experiences with animal health industry professionals and researchers. Currently he is developing business skills in both the veterinary and dairy industries through VIBE and other projects.
He aims to enter into a career where he can create opportunities for disadvantaged young people to develop, support a family, and pursue his philanthropic interests. Working on VIBE brought Andrew a few steps closer to his goal of being a practice manager and owner.
Diane Whatling
DipVN DipHR
Diane co-authored two case studies for the VIBE project and contributed significant experience in the veterinary profession to the case studies and teaching materials for this project.
Diane is entering her 34th year in the veterinary industry achieving a number of awards in small business and Practice Management I now work at the Veterinary Health Centre (University of Adelaide).
Diane and co-author Adele Feakes have two published case studies for "Veterinary Business and Enterprise – Theoretical Foundations and Practical Cases " Ed. Colette Henry (2014) Saunders Elselvier Edinburgh.
Craig Broadbridge
B.Com (Acc)
Craig is the current Commercial Manager of the Veterinary Health Centres at the University of Adelaide.
Craig was the finance officer for this OLT funded project, and also is involved in the refinement and auditing of the case study documents and topic notes and workshop delivery to students of the University of Adelaide.
Jim Edson
BA BEd DipT Cert IV Training and Assessment
Jim is media technician Discipline of Media at the University of Adelaide. His role in the VIBE project has been to create video resources that demonstrate a range of issues that confront young vets entering the profession.
Jim has a long standing interest in the creative use of technology in education. He spent eleven years training teachers and students in ICT at the internationally recognised Technology School of the Future. He has a strong belief that technology can enhance learning in new and creative forms of expression.
Trisha Franceschilli
BSc
Ms Trisha Franceschilli is an eLearning Adviser in the Learning Enhancement and Innovation team at the University of Adelaide.
Donna Montes
Donna was member of the Faculty of Sciences Marketing and Student Recruitment team. Donna supported the creation of the original VIBE website.
