Who we are

PERMANENT FACULTY

Andrew Knight is Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics, and Founding Director of the Centre for Animal Welfare; a veterinary specialist in animal welfare accredited in the UK, EU, US and New Zealand; a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE. Andrew founded and leads Winchester’s distance-learning MSc Animal Welfare, Behaviour, Ethics and Law. He regularly publishes and presents, and has an extensive series of social media videos, on animal welfare and ethics issues. His work has attracted 14 awards and 20 research and knowledge exchange grants.

Hazel Brown is the Associate Dean (Academic Experience and Student Outcomes) for the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, and currently Head of School for Sport, Health and Community. She joined the Centre for Animal Welfare this year after contribution to an article written by Professor Andrew Knight. Hazel is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and specialises in quantitative methods. Robert Gray is a Lecturer in Environmental History. After a BA in History at the University of Leeds, Robert completed an MA in Central European History (with Hungarian) at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, from where he also gained his PhD on land reform and the Hungarian peasantry in 2010. His teaching interests include environmental history from the beginnings of time to the present day and covering much of the world (and beyond), as well as a more limited range of Modern and Early Modern Central and Eastern Europe. Adalinda Hernandez is Lecturer in Animal Welfare in the University’s Centre for Animal Welfare. She joined the centre in 2022 and teaches on the BA Animal Welfare and Society. Natalie Light is a Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist and has been working professionally in the companion animal sector since 2006. She graduated from University of Southampton with a Zoology BSc (2:1) and Newcastle University in Applied Animal Behaviour & Welfare PGDip. She is currently completing her PhD at University of Winchester, is a Fellow of Advance HE and a part-time lecturer on the Animal Welfare and Society BA Hons at University of Winchester.

Jenny Mace is a remote associate lecturer on our MSc in Animal Welfare, Behaviour, Ethics and Law, having graduated with Distinction from the same MSc herself in 2018. She has co-authored and published two papers based on her mixed-methods dissertation, which examined UK yoga teachers’ attitudes towards consuming animals. She is a Fellow of Advance HE, and currently immersed in research regarding the care of backyard chickens. She currently has one Romanian rescue dog, two adopted cats and seven ex-commercial hens in her care.

Steven McCulloch is Senior Lecturer in Human-Animal Studies and Programme Leader for the BA Animal Welfare and Society. Steven qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 2002 from Bristol University and holds a BA Philosophy from Birkbeck College, London University. He has a PhD from the RVC, London for his thesis ‘The British animal health and welfare policy process: accounting for the interests of sentient species’. Steven is a diplomat of ECAWBM and a recognised veterinary specialist in Animal

Welfare Science, Ethics and Law. Steven is Section Editor for Animals in Public Policy, Politics and Society for the journal Animals.

Neil Messer is Professor of Theology in the Department of Theology, Religion and Philosophy, University of Winchester. His research, teaching and supervision are focused on Christian ethics, including bioethics and animal ethics, and the interaction of science and theology. Recent and forthcoming publications include Theological Neuroethics: Christian Ethics Meets the Science of the Human Brain Bloomsbury, 2017) and Science in Theology: Encounters between Science and the Christian Tradition (Bloomsbury, forthcoming, 2020). He is currently working on a University-funded collaborative project on the interactions of neuroscience, theology and ethics. Lisa Riley is a Lecturer in Animal Welfare. Also an animal welfare scientist and primatologist, specialising in zoo welfare assessment and cognition, environmental enrichment and welfare, Lisa has over five years’ experience lecturing and managing animal welfare programmes. She has helped organisations campaign to raise awareness of the pet primate industry in the UK, and the need for prohibition or regulation. Lisa was previously an RSPCA Senior Scientist, where she instigated a primate rehoming scheme to rescue traumatised pet primates and provide them with safe, specialised care and an opportunity to experience good welfare, trust and good health. Liam Satchell is a lecturer in psychology at the University of Winchester, where he specialises in theoretical and methodological issues in applied research. His work focuses on the psychology of individual and is the Secretary for the British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences. From this perspective, he has conducted research into personality and behavioural problems in human and non-human animals. His current research focuses on examining ways to efficiently measure welfare and wellbeing of individual animals (with Dr Lisa Riley). Elsewhere he works in other applied psychology fields of mental health, crime, sports, and education. Amoret Whitaker is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Studies and Programme Leader of our BA (Hons) Forensic Studies programme. Her qualifications include a BSc in Zoology, an MSc in Taxonomy and Biodiversity, and a PhD in Forensic Entomology. She also has a Diploma in Forensic Medical Sciences. She specialises in Forensic Entomology and since 2004 has undertaken forensic casework throughout the UK for many police forces and forensic providers, attending crime scenes, deposition sites and post-mortems, analysing data and submitting reports, and attending court as required. Within the Centre for Animal Welfare her teaching applies forensic science to animal cruelty and abuse cases.

VISITING PROFESSORS

David Clough is Chair in Theology and Applied Sciences, University of Aberdeen. His recent work has focussed on the place of animals in Christian theology and ethics, with a particular interest in the ethics of farmed animal welfare. He is President of the Society for the Study of Theology (2022–2024) and Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded project Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare.

Luke Gamble aims to help as many animals (and people) as he can in his veterinary career. His passion is his extracurricular work with his charities Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) and Mission Rabies. Luke is CEO of both, and to date has raised over twelve million pounds to support the charities and associated projects around the world. Key flagship initiatives including the launch of WVS India in 2010, WVS Thailand in 2015, establishing three international training centres (two in India, one in Thailand), and the Mission Rabies project to eliminate rabies from Malawi and the Indian State of Goa.

Philip Lymbery is Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming, President, Eurogroup for Animals, founding Board member, World Federation for Animals and former UN 2021 Food Systems Summit Champion. An ornithologist, photographer, animal advocate and award-winning author of Farmageddon: the True Cost of Cheap Meat, and Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were – the first mainstream books to show factory farming as major driver of wildlife declines and at heart of what needs to change to stave off climate, nature and pandemic emergencies facing humanity. His third book is Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future.

Paula Sparks is a Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester teaching an animal law and policy module to undergraduate students, covering topics around the legal protection of animals used in farming and research and for wildlife and companion animals. She is also executive chairperson of the UK Centre for Animal Law (A-LAW), a charity whose vision is a world where animals are fully protected by law. In her role at A-LAW she oversees the programme of animal law events, publications, and student outreach. She also works closely with animal advocacy groups, lawyers, and academics and frequently lectures about animal law.

VISITING LECTURERS

Moira Harris is an Independent Research Consultant, a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Winchester and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. She spent 13 years as a Senior Lecturer at Harper Adams University and has an applied animal behaviour and welfare research and teaching background, specialising in farmed pigs, poultry and fish as well as zoo elephants. She is a Springer Animal Welfare book series editor, co-author of the Eurogroup for Animals report Catching Up: Fish Welfare in Wild Capture Fisheries and author of a chapter on Commercial Fisheries in the newly published Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare.

Emily Davies completed the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Masters degree in the first year, 2016-2017, receiving a distinction. Her Masters dissertation research was used as a case study to update Best Practice Guidelines for the European Endangered Species Programme, with regards to captive Jaguars. She since went on to pursue a career in academic publishing, where she oversees a portfolio of journals for John Wiley & Sons LTD. In her spare time, Emily has combined her Masters knowledge with her publishing experience to supervise and mark dissertations on behalf of the University of Winchester.

Donelle Gadenne is a qualified veterinary nurse and Critical Animal Studies scholar and Visiting Lecturer (teaching Sociology and Animal Welfare). She completed her BA (Hons) in Australia and MA degree in New Zealand.

She gained a PGC(HE) qualification in 2020 and PhD in 2022 in the UK researching veganism and the UK veterinary profession. She is co-author along with Professor Annie Potts of Animals in Emergencies: Learning from the Christchurch Earthquakes (2014). Further publications: Academia. edu

Tom Gooch is a Visiting Lecturer on BA (Hons) Animal Welfare and Society, teaching Qualitative Research Methods and Researching Risk and Animals. Tom has studied BA (Hons) Animal Welfare and Society and MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law at Winchester and will hopefully achieve his AFHEA in the coming weeks. In his spare time, Tom also volunteers as a copyeditor for Animal Ask.

EXTERNAL ADVISOR

Peter Singer is a Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, with a background in philosophy. He works mostly in practical ethics, and is best known for his book Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty.

RESEARCH STUDENTS

Pam Adams-Wright, MPhil student, An investigation into why post-weaning stereotypical pacing develops in red squirrel kittens at Wildwood Escot and Wildwood Kent.

Catherine Farren, PhD student, International animal protection: sociocultural factors for animal protection reform.

Rebecca Hammerton, PhD student, Keeper perceptions of captive primate diets: nutritional and welfare perspectives.

Nia Parry-Howells, PhD Student, Factors affecting rescued primate welfare: Exotic pet trade, laboratory, and zoo comparisons. Elizabeth Roe, PhD Student: The sustainability of captive aye-aye populations: Breeding, genetics and welfare.

Nicky Shaw, PhD student: Domestic dog training with an artificial agent: Learning and welfare perspectives.