I am a senior scientist and EU account manager at Wageningen Livestock Research in Wageningen, The Netherlands. For the latter role I support the acquisition and management of international research projects. I am an applied ethologist, and facinated by issues related to animal behaviour and welfare on farm, during transport and at the abattoir. In 1998 I obtained my PhD on social and stereotypic behaviour of sows. Since then I wrote or co-authored 40+ peer reviewed papers, and joined the Animal Health and Welfare panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2012. I have experience in managing international R&D projects, and was involved as coordinator, deputy-coordinator or project office manager of several EU funded projects in the past 15 years. Currently, I lead two Horizon2020 projects: 'HealthyLivestock' (on reducing the need to use antimicrobials in animal husbandry), and 'mEATquality' (on the relationship between animal welfare and the quality of the meat). I am also the coordinator of the first EU Reference Centre for Animal Welfare: 'EURCAW-Pigs'.