Resilience Ontologies in Veterinary Science: How They Shape the Way We Address Resilience

This narrative conceptual review aims to examine how veterinary science intertwines with the different ontologies of resilience. As resilience has increasingly become an influential yet conceptually diverse framework, its different ontologies shape and are shaped by veterinary science thinking. This paper will begin with a brief overview of the origins of the resilience concept and its three major ontologies: engineering, psychological, and ecological resilience. Following these different ontologies, the paper then explores animal-level resilience, where engineering framings emphasise disease response and production stability, while welfare-oriented perspectives frame resilience in terms of the affective experience and the lived realities of animals. It then considers veterinary professional resilience, highlighting how emotional labour, workload pressures and structural constraints shape wellbeing across the profession. Finally, it analyses how veterinary science contributes to socio-ecological resilience through One Health approaches in public health, food systems and climate adaptation. Across these domains, resilience is often framed as a desirable attribute, yet it remains a value-laden concept that can obscure inequities or normalise preventable harms. This paper calls for critical, justice-oriented engagement with resilience to ensure it supports ethically grounded veterinary practice and promotes healthier, happier animals, more equitable systems, and sustainable professional environments.