Chair of the Animal Health & Welfare Board England (AHWBE) & Chair of Defra Animal Health & Welfare Pathway Design & Chairs Groups.

Professor of Sustainable Livestock Health & Welfare at Harper and Keele Vetrinary School and chairs the InSHAW (Institute for Sustainable livestock Health & Welfare) Leadership Group. Main veterinary and research interests include progressive herd health, reproductive technologies and Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) approaches to Sustainable Food.InSHAW https://www.inshaw.co.uk/about-us was set up in 2021 as a new institute that includes Harper Adams University, University of Keele, Harper & Keele Veterinary School and RAFT. It expands the scope and reach of RAFT further with an increasing range of joint appointments and international partnerships in EU, North America and East Africa.

RAFT is an innovative veterinary-led, close to market applied sustainable food research, advanced breeding, food futures consultancy & training organisation. RAFT brings together a team of highly experienced vets and consultants representing key opinion leaders within the livestock industry and additional technical support staff through its shareholder practice Bishopton Veterinary Group https://www.bishoptonvets.co.uk/ and global collaborations. RAFT provides defined services in R&D including clinical field trials, advanced breeding technologies, alongside food futures consultancy and training farmers in key livestock skills and animal health and welfare developments to deliver its core mission of innovation in sustainable food production. RAFT has established connections across the livestock sector, has delivered projects for a range of clients including AHDB, Pepsico, pharmaceutical companies and the food retail sector and currently hold, or have held influential positions within the veterinary industry. RAFT are members of the XLVets’ network of 40+ UK vet practices and thus can access a wide and varied pool of commercial farms for sampling, research study, training and dissemination purposes. RAFT deliver consultancy services for key food retailers and processors within the UK and Internationally. RAFT have been engaged in research and consultancy linking animal health and welfare innovation with the environment for more than 10 years, including delivering key research in this field for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC and presenting groundbreaking research at the COP25 climate change summit in Madrid (December 2019).RAFT use their established RAFT Farm Network Operational Group (RFNOG) of UK commercial livestock herds, vets, biologists and data scientists with PRINCE2 qualified project managers alongside global partners in the sustainable food sector.

chair of Bishopton Veterinary Group, a 40+vet independently owned practice (members of XL Vets) based in Yorkshire, he remains active in practice with a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Diploma in Cattle Health & Production. Jonathan has also held a range of representative or policy linked roles including past President of the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) and the Yorkshire Veterinary Society, has sat on the GB ‘Cattle Health & Welfare Group’ (CHAWG), GB ‘Sheep Health & Welfare Group’ (SHAWG), the Veterinary Policy Group (VPG) of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and is a past director of Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) and member of the ‘Farmskills’ Steering Group. He is a member of the Nottingham Dairy Innovation Forum & the International Embryo Transfer Society. He currently sits on UK Animal Science Advisory Board (ASAB) Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) & is a fellow of Askham Bryan College. He serves on the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), sits on the UK ‘One Health’ Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy Group, GB Ruminant Health & Welfare Steering Group (RH&WG) and is currently Chair of the Animal Health & Welfare Board England (AHWBE) & Chair of Defra Animal Health & Welfare Pathway Design & Chairs Groups. In 2020 he also took up a chair at the new veterinary school at Harper and Keele and is now Professor of Sustainable Livestock Health & Welfare and chairs the InSHAW (Institute for Sustainable livestock Health & Welfare) Leadership Group. Main veterinary and research interests include progressive herd health, reproductive technologies and Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) approaches to Sustainable Food. He has published a wide range of papers and is a co-author of textbook ‘Dairy Herd Health’. He is a RCVS recognised specialist in Cattle Health & Production, Fellow of RCVS and was named UK Dairy Vet of the year 2015.