Role
Richard Bennett is Research Dean for Food and Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading. He is a Reading University alumnus with a BSc in Agricultural Economics which he followed by an MSc in the same subject at Oxford University, having been awarded a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Scholarship. After a period working for a land use consultancy company, he returned to Reading as a Research Fellow with the Centre for Agricultural Strategy (1985-1989), then Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Food Economics.
His research interests are wide in relation to agriculture and food but he has a particular interest in the economics of animal health and welfare. Richard has served on various committees including 10 years on the government’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee and BBSRC’s Animal Welfare Advisory Group and is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees for two animal welfare charities, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare and the Humane Slaughter Association.