Speakers

Donal Murphy is Deputy CEO and Head of International and Regulatory Affairs with the National Office of Animal Health (NOAH), the trade association for the UK animal health industry. He graduated as a veterinary surgeon from University College Dublin, Ireland, in 1999 and joined NOAH in 2010, having previously worked in both companion animal and farm animal private veterinary practice and with the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where his work included notifiable disease control and farm animal welfare. In his role with NOAH, he represents the UK animal health industry to government, the media, the general public and external stakeholders as well as being an active participant in the work of the European and global animal health associations, Animal Health Europe and Health for Animals. He also holds an MSc in One Health from the University of Edinburgh.

Helen Roberts has a BSc in Zoology and a PhD in Parasitology, both from Imperial College, London. She spent ten years in academia in the UK including field work in Colombia and a secondment in Australia, studying neglected tropical diseases, then several years working for international health NGOs (on human health issues, such as malaria and school children’s health). In 2007 Helen joined Defra, as part of the National Epidemiology Expert Group for outbreaks in the VLA (now APHA). In 2008 she moved to the international trade team becoming head of international disease monitoring and risk assessment in 2010. Helen is currently Defra’s senior policy advisor for non-livestock diseases including wildlife and New Emerging Diseases and science/risk advisor and also lead for animal health horizon scanning and risk assessment across government departments such as the biosecurity programme in Defra, the cross government international natural hazard forward look and the G7 health track. Helen is chair of the UK Human-Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group, on the EFSA Animal Health and Welfare Panel and a member of the WOAH Collaborating Centre on Risk Assessment and Modelling.

Chris started his career in rural estate management before switching to business support where he has successfully managed and delivered both UK Rural and European Regional Development Programs across the South West of England.

Chris has also been an active member of the Enterprise Europe Network as both Agri-Tech and Environmental lead.

With a degree in Business Decision Support, a background in innovation, funding and grass roots agriculture, Chris currently manages the delivery of funding competitions under Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered by Innovate UK.

Grace is Head of External Affairs at the UK Agri-Tech Centre where her role is focused on policy development and engagement with government; connecting industry, academia and the supply chain to accelerate the development of innovation.

Grace is a One Health advocate with experience across livestock health and welfare, the veterinary medicines sector and the research and innovation landscape. She qualified with a PhD and degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University College Dublin and is a Nuffield Farming Scholar.

Her previously roles included Head of Innovation and Animal Health Specialist at the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) and Senior Technical Policy Manager at NOAH.

Director and CEO, Pirbright Institute

President and Principal, Royal Veterinary College

Head of Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation, Royal Veterinary College

Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour, Royal Veterinary College