Our Trustees
UFAW’s council of trustees are responsible for the governance of the charity. They meet regularly to review the strategic direction of the organisation, monitor finances and receive reports from senior management.
The strategic direction of the charity is set by the Senior Management Team who are also responsible for the day to day running of the charity. The Senior Management Team consists of the Chief Executive/Scientific Director, Charity Secretary and Assistant Scientific Director.
We currently have 10 trustees:
Mike Radford OBE LLB (Chair)
Corrie L McCann BSc ACA (Honorary Treasurer)
Siobhan Abeyesinghe BSc MSc PhD PGCertEd FHEA
Siobhan is a Senior Lecturer and welfare scientist at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), with expertise in animal behaviour. She was appointed Head of Group to the RVC Animal Welfare Science and Ethics group in 2014. Siobhan is passionate about the importance of evidence-based underpinning of our understanding, assessment and promotion of animal welfare, through her teaching of biological science, veterinary and veterinary nursing students and her research. Siobhan’s research, primarily on farmed species, has explored fundamental understanding of animal biology, such as animal cognition and new ways to measure welfare, through to applied issues, such as monitoring individual welfare in very large groups and welfare at slaughter. Siobhan has previously served as a member of the Ethics and Welfare Advisory Panel for the British Veterinary Association and is currently Member of both the British Hen Welfare Trust Scientific Research Committee and Science Advisory Board for Dogs Trust.
Professor Richard M Bennett BSc MSc PhD ARAgS
Richard Bennett is Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading. His research interests are wide in relation to animal welfare but he has a particular interest in the economics and social science aspects of animal health and welfare on which he has published extensively. He has served on various animal health and welfare committees including the England Implementation Group of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy (2005-2009), Chair of the Veterinary Development Council (2011-2013), 10 years on the government’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee (2005-2014) and served as a trustee of the Farm Animal Welfare Trust.
Jane Downes BVSc MRCVS
After graduating from Veterinary School at Bristol University Jane entered general veterinary practice in North Yorkshire and went on to specialise in veterinary public health. She joined the Meat Hygiene Service in 1995 and was appointed as the Veterinary and Technical Director in 2002. In 2010 she led the chemical safety group at the Food Standards Agency. Jane has worked with all sectors of the food chain and with research organisations improving food safety and animal welfare. Jane is the Chair of the Pig Health and Welfare Council, a member of Defra’s Animal Welfare Council and Chair of the Welfare at Slaughter group, a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and Chair of Food and Drink Qualifications Ltd (FDQ) which provides qualifications and apprenticeship endpoint assessments across the food chain.
Alison Enticknap
Alison is the Head of Stakeholder Engagement at the British Horseracing Authority and is also Programme Director of racing’s industry-wide and independently chaired Horse Welfare Board, which has developed and published an ambitious strategy for equine welfare in the sport.
Alison has broad experience in communications, including media relations, campaigning & public affairs, from roles at Virgin Atlantic, Powergen, T-Mobile, the Natural History Museum and the RSPB, as well as an academic background in politics and policy. She has a particular interest in reputation management and in campaigns designed to change public and political attitudes.
Anna Olsson MSc PhD
Anna is an animal welfare scientist. She has set up and leads a research group in animal welfare at the i3S, University of Porto, Portugal. She has a background in farm animal behaviour and welfare, and presently works primarily with laboratory and companion animals and the ethics of human use of animals. She coordinates training in laboratory animal science for researchers and heads the institutional animal welfare and ethics review body. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss 3Rs Competence Centre (since 2018), editorial board member of the journal Laboratory Animals (since 2004) and academic editor for PLOS ONE (since 2016).
David Pritchard BSc BVetMed
David R Sargan MA PhD
David is a senior lecturer and principle investigator working in comparative genetics of inherited disease in companion animals in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. At the Dick Vet in Edinburgh he started working on the dog as a repository for inherited traits that replicate human inherited disease, with initial interests in eye disease. This work quickly led to an appreciation of the welfare problems being caused by the search for extremes of conformation and also carried along at high frequency through inbreeding and other genetic bottlenecks. Currently his major research interest is Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome.
David’s other major interest is in educating young scientists, and he has served this cause in numerous capacities both locally and nationally. He established the Graduate School of Life Sciences at the University of Cambridge and was its first Director. He is currently the Chair of the Training Committee of the University of Cambridge’s BBSRC Doctoral Partnership, Director of Graduate Education for the Veterinary School, and serves on numerous other committees involved with training in the University and on the UFAW and HSA grants and funding committees.
Alick Simmons BVMS, MSc, DipAABAW, MRCVS
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. After a period in private practice, he followed a 35-year career as a Government veterinarian, latterly as the UK Government's Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. Alick's lifelong passion is wildlife; he volunteers for the RPSB in Somerset, a trustee of Dorset Wildlife Trust and a member of the Wild Animal Welfare Committee. A particular interest of Alick’s is the ethics of wild animal management and welfare.
Our Vice-Presidents
Professor P M Biggs CBE DSc DVM FRCPath FRSB FRS FRCVS
L A Brown MBE BVSc BA PhD FRSB MBA FRCVS
Professor P H Holmes OBE BVMS PhD FRCVS FRSE
B Howard BVMS PhD FRCVS
J H Pratt BVM&S DVSM FRCVS
G D Sales BSc PhD AKC MRSB DipTCDHE
