The Dr. Bart Rispens Research Award (BRRA) was established in 1973, in memory of the Dutch poultry veterinarian Dr. Bart Rispens, by the Dr. Bart Rispens Memorial Award Fund due to the initiative of his former colleague Dr. Henk Maas. The main goal of the fund was to honour the great contribution of Dr. Rispens to the control of Marek's disease. Marek's vaccine CVI988 which was developed as part of the research of Dr. Rispens is successfully used to prevent Marek's Disease in poultry all over the world. The vaccine had been made available to the vaccine industry free of charge only because of the attitude of Dr. Rispens towards commercialisation of research subsidised by the government.

The Award will be given biennially to the first author of the best paper published in the WVPA journal Avian Pathology during the two calendar years preceding the year of the Award presentation at the WVPA Congress. The recipient of the Award is elected by the Dr. Bart Rispens Research Award Committee, which includes representatives of the Board of the WVPA, a representative of Avian Pathology, a representative of the corporate sponsor MSD/Intervet International B.V. and four other appointed scientists. The Award consists of a medallion, a certificate and a monetary award. Further information about the Award can be obtained from the Secretary of the Award Committee, Prof. Dr. H. M. Hafez (hafez.mohamed@vetmed.fu-berlin.de).