About the Tools’ Developers
Dr Kristine Gandía
Dr Kristine Gandía is an animal behaviourist and welfare research specialist. These resources are an extension of her PhD research in developing a validated and evidence-based welfare assessment program that considers the cyclical nature of life.
She takes the philosophy that all animals are sentient until proven non-sentient and reflects that in her approaches to animal welfare, believing that all animals deserve the same level of attention to their welfare, from sponges to elephants alike. Her research focuses on understanding the evolutionary needs and adaptive limits of species, considering internal and external factors and processes, in order to create captive environments that minimize poor welfare and optimize health and well-being.
She has over a decade of experience conducting research, working with laboratory and zoo animals, spanning across vertebrates and invertebrates. She has published several articles in highly regarded research journals. The aims for her research are to gain a deep understanding of animal behaviour in the context of a harmonic and cyclical natural system and to be a part of social changes in how humans think of welfare and integrate it as a foundational factor of all animal care practices.
Jo Elliott
Jo Elliott is the curator for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) two zoological parks: Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park.
Amongst her responsibilities are ensuring the collection’s animals go through a rigorous welfare assessment process, a process which she innovated in 2019, and has continued to evolve and develop with colleagues from the University of Stirling into the Standardised Welfare Assessment Toolkit.
Improving animal welfare has always been a particular motivation, and she has utilised 25 years of practical industry experience in multiple roles following a Masters degree in behaviour and welfare in order to achieve the best possible, practical welfare assessment model for the RZSS.
Prof Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith
Professor Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith established the Behaviour and Evolution Research Group in Psychology at the University of Stirling in Scotland, where she has been working for over 30 years.
Given that humans are an inevitable part of the lives of all captive animals, she has been studying the human-animal relationship, and its impact on both human and animal behaviour and wellbeing. She has studied animals in laboratories, zoos and animal shelters, and draws on her field work of South American primates in their natural habitats.
She uses a multidisciplinary approach to animal welfare assessment, and actively tries to find practical ways to put research findings into practice. She has held positions on U.K. government committees, formerly the Animal Procedures Committee, and currently the Zoos Expert Committee.
She has published over 120 research articles, contributed to international guidelines and policy promoting good welfare for captive animals, as well as open access websites such as Marmosetcare.
