Professor Svetlana Georgieva has experience in animal and molecular genetics. Her expertise includes investigation of DNA polymorphism of the key genes (CAST, MSTN, etc.) related to improving the meat and growth traits in farm animals, especially in sheep. She is involved in investigation of genetic diversity and population structure of Bulgarian autochthonous sheep breeds. Svetlana leads the Department “Genetics, animal breeding and reproduction” in Faculty of Agriculture, Trakia University. She is a teacher of genetics to students of all Bachelor programmes in the Faculty of Agriculture.

Professor Todor Stoyanchev is a lecturer at Faculty of Veterinary medicine on subjects “Food safety and control” “Hygiene and technology of meat and meat products”, “Laboratory methods in food assay”. Has 15 years of research experience in Food microbiology, meat quality (poultry and pig), modern molecular biological methods PCR and nondestructive NIR spectroscopy in meat quality assay. He has experience as coordinator of national project for PhD students and postdocs, funded by EU framework program in Bulgaria. Well adapted in team work, models for practical approach in experimental design and research demonstrations in laboratory conditions as well as at processing plants (meat); organizing education for young people, students, researchers and PhD students.

Assoc. prof. Stefka Atanassova is a scientist in the field of near infrared spectroscopy and its application for determination of chemical composition and nutrition value of different feed and forages, meat, milk and dairy products quality, detection of bacterial contamination of food products.

Assoc. prof. Georgi Beevis an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Physics, Agricultural Faculty, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
– assessment of food/feed quality and safety;
– probiotic bacteria and their biotechnological potential as a tool against AMR;
– investigations in the area of sanitary microbiology and green farming systems;
He is a member of the Bulgarian Society for Microbiology (member of Federation of European Microbiological Societies) and Environmental Biotechnology (EB) Division of the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB);
Associated editor in International journals, reviewer of more than 10 scientific journals and has over 40 publications as journal manuscripts and conference proceedings. He has received some international awards and participated in national projects (The National Research Program Healthy Foods for a Strong Bio economy and Quality of Life” 2018 2022.

Assoc. Professor Dr. Nadya Bozakova has many years of experience (20 years) in research on the behaviour and welfare of different poultry species and sheep, with an emphasis on opportunities to improve the welfare during cold and hot seasons. Nadya’s previous projects include opportunities to improve poultry welfare with food supplements – Zn, vitamin C, arginine and immunomodulators. She worked on a new mathematical model for animal welfare assessment, with an emphasis on the behaviour, hormonal status and biochemistry of avian blood. In addition, Nadya develops projects on the influence of immunomodulators on the specific and non-specific immunity, behaviour and welfare of different poultry species.
Assoc. Prof. Bozakova is a long-time lecturer of veterinary medicine students in the disciplines „Veterinary Hygiene and Animal rearing Technologies“ and a leading lecturer in „Ethology and Animal Welfare“ at Trakia University, as well as a guest lecturer in ethology at Alfonso X el Sabio University, Madrid and University of Cordoba, Spain, and University of Evora and Escola Superior Agrária de Santarem, Portugal.
Since 2016, Nadya has been a member of the Management Committee of two International Programs – COST Action № 15134 “Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens”, and INNOGLY COST Action № 18 103.
She is Chairman of the Commission for Animal Ethics at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and a member of the Commission for Animal Ethics at the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency. Assoc. Prof. Bozakova has over 70 peer-reviewed publications on the behaviour and welfare of farm animals.

Professor Ivan Varlyakovis world ranked scientist in animal behaviour, welfare, animal physiology and stress. Author and co-author of the first for Bulgaria academic courses “Ethology” (1996), “Shelters and hotels for dogs and cats” and “Zoopark management” for the students from all majors at Trakia University, Stara Zagora. Project Leader and coordinator for 42 projects financed by OP of EU, PHARE, USAID, SDCA and TEMPUS. He has more than 30 years of experience in research into dairy cow and sheep behaviour and welfare with a particular focus on the effects of housing and management – behavior in milking parlour, social behavior, effects of the structure and additives in the diet on the digestion, eating behavior and productivity.

Professor Marie Haskell has extensive experience of research into dairy cow behaviour and welfare with a particular focus on the effects of housing and management. Past projects have included assessing effects of continuous housing, organic farming and effects of genetic selection on behaviour. She has also carried out work into creating new welfare assessment measures, with a particular focus on animal behaviour, and in applying these to cattle, sheep and, more recently, to salmon. Additionally, Marie has been involved in studies that have characterised temperament or personality in cattle and dogs and the underlying genetics of personality and temperament. She is also interested in the cognitive abilities, emotional responses and personality of animals and how these abilities and attributes influence the welfare of the individual. Marie is Depute Team Leader of the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Team lectures on MSc courses at the University of Edinburgh, and BSc courses at SRUC, and supervises students at a range of levels.

Dr Carol-Anne Duthie currently leads SRUC’s Beef and Sheep Research Centre. Her research expertise has focused on understanding and optimising the efficiency and sustainability of ruminant production systems. More recent work has focused on the development and application of Precision Livestock Farming solutions for continuous, automated and real-time monitoring of individual animal productivity, product quality, health, welfare and their environment. Her expertise also includes measuring greenhouse gas emissions from ruminant livestock and methane mitigation strategies. She has extensive experience of collaborating in multidisciplinary programmes of work engaging across both industry and academia. Lecturer for undergraduate students and supervisor/co-supervisor of PhD students. Over 40 peer-reviewed publications. She is a former chair of the British Society of Animal Science Strategy and Innovation Committee, current director of the Scottish Accreditation Board and review editor for Frontiers in Animal Science (Precision Livestock Farming).

Professor Rainer Roehe joined SRUC in 2004, having previously worked at the University of Kiel, Germany and University of Guelph, Canada. He is author of more than 100 referreed research papers and led research projects in a large variety of subjects from genetic studies of performance traits to animal welfare traits in all main farm species. Rainer has specialised in animal breeding and genomics using animal trials and cutting-edge bioinformatics to understand the genetic regulation of animal performances such as feed efficiency, meat quality and methane emissions. He is collaborating nationally and internationally in many projects based on his long-term experience in animal breeding and genomics. Current research in beef focuses on genetic improvement of feed efficiency, growth, meat quality and methane mitigation considering the host genetic and ruminal microbiome effects as well as their interaction. One of his main aims is to include both animal genomic and ruminal metagenomic information of economical important traits into practical breeding programmes