Your Tutors

Dr. Sarah Richdon is an expert in animal welfare and conservation based in Bristol. She holds a PhD from the University of Bristol, where she focused on the behavior and vocalizations of Livingstone's fruit bats to improve their conservation. Currently, she is the Head of Field Conservation and Higher Education, and Programme Lead of Animal Welfare at Bristol Zoological Society, ensuring both wild and captive animal welfare is considered and maintained. Within this role, Sarah facilitates all animal welfare assessment, including required training and stakeholder management. Additionally, Sarah sits on BIAZA and EAZA Animal Welfare Working Groups to provide advice, write guidance documentation and improve national and international animal welfare standards. and lectures for the University of Bristol on captive wildlife management. 

Lisa Clifforde is the Animal Welfare Officer for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), overseeing welfare across ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Her role encompasses animal welfare assessment, behaviour analysis, and the implementation of welfare action plans. Lisa also delivers internal and external training in animal welfare and contributes to policy and procedure development.

Lisa previously worked as a keeper, curator, and manager, specializing in tropical species. She holds a degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and more recently, Applied Animal Behaviour, and is working towards Clinical Animal Behaviourist accreditation. Lisa chairs the BIAZA Animal Welfare Working Group and is a member of the EAZA Animal Welfare Working Group. She is also a co-author of several industry resources, including the BIAZA Animal Welfare Toolkit, Quality of Life Assessment Guidelines, Event Monitoring Guidelines, and Visitor Animal Experience Assessment Guidelines.

Marina Salas is Research Coordinator for Animal Welfare and Behaviour at the Antwerp Zoo Centre for Research and Conservation (CRC), overseeing applied research projects at Zoo Antwerpen and Zoo Planckendael (Belgium). Her work focuses on developing and supervising studies on species-specific welfare indicators, behaviour monitoring, and the implementation of welfare protocols, working closely with animal care staff, students, and international collaborators. A veterinarian by training, Marina holds a PhD in Animal Welfare from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), as well as an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare from the University of Edinburgh. Marina is a member of the EAZA Animal Welfare Working Group and lectures in UAB’s Master’s programme in Animal Welfare, promoting knowledge exchange between science and practice to improve animal care and welfare in zoos.