Andrew is a clinical and forensic ethologist with specialist academic areas in animal cognition, equine learning/training and welfare science.   

As an independent scientist, Andrew has authored and co-authored in excess of 80 research and review papers and conference presentations and 10 horse and elephant training texts. In 2020, he co-authored the most recent Five Domains Model of Animal Welfare, focusing on human-animal interactions. Andrew has been co-winner of the Eureka Science award and the Premio Flambo Award for Animal Welfare (Italian Equestrian Sports Federation). In 2014, he was awarded the John H Daniels Fellowship from the USA National Sporting Library, Virginia and in 2016, he was King Scholar invitee at the University of Arkansas.  

Andrew has dedicated the past couple of decades to teaching evidence-based horse training and management in workshops across Western Europe as well as the USA, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. In doing so, he has coached four Olympic medalists, seven National Equestrian Federations and in 1996 he coached the Indian Eventing team to win its first ever medal in international competition using techniques that he derived from and understanding of equine learning and cognition. Andrew founded and directed the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre in 1995 and is currently the CEO of Equitation Science International. He is Patron of Pony Club Australia and as a former Director, he has instigated a revolutionary syllabus that leads the world in equestrian education for young riders. Andrew is also Founder of the Human-Elephant-Learning Programs Foundation, a not-for-profit charity that delivers evidence-based elephant training, management and conservation education across South and Southeast Asia and is supported there by various government organisations. He is also the Australian representative of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group. 

A winner of the Advanced section of the famous Gawler Three-Day-Event in 1989, Andrew has enjoyed a decorated and very diverse equestrian sport career. He has represented Australia in three-day eventing and competed in State and National titles in FEI dressage, eventing and showjumping and more recently was Australian National Champion in Tetrathlon in 2018 in the 32+ age group.  

Andy graduated from Bristol in 1988 and after two years in mixed practice started in ambulatory equine practice in the Midlands. He gained the RCVS CertEP in 1993 before moving to Liphook Equine Hospital in 1994, becoming a partner in 2001. This was followed by the RCVS diploma in equine internal medicine in 2003 and European diploma in equine internal medicine in 2004. Andy has continued to perform a little first opinion ambulatory work although he now mainly works in the new hospital at Liphook with medical in-patients and the diagnostic laboratory. He has recently been appointed as visiting professor at the University of Surrey, Guildford and is involved in the development of a new veterinary school there. Andy’s main professional interests are in endocrine disease, liver disease, dermatology, infectious diseases and most other aspects of internal medicine.

After graduating from the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, France, in 2002, Marion Desmarchelier worked in mixed practice (small animals, equine and dairy cattle) for a year. After an internship with birds of prey at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal, she completed a one-year internship (IPSAV) in zoological medicine in Saint-Hyacinthe. Following her return from France, she worked for a year in a referral hospital with exotic animals and small animals, while volunteering for a wild bird care center. Marion Desmarchelier then completed a residency program in zoological medicine as well as a master's degree in clinical sciences on pain in birds. She was a Clinical Professor of Wild, Exotic and Zoo Medicine at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island from 2010 to 2014. Subsequently, back in Quebec, she combined her work as a clinician in zoological medicine with a second residency, in animal behavioural medicine. Marion Desmarchelier is a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine (2009), the European College of Zoological Medicine (Zoo Health Management) (2014) and the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (2018). She is an associate editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine and was a contributor to the latest edition of the reference book Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine.

Marion’s research interests include studying the impact of training methods on the welfare of therapeutic horses and their coregulation with children on the autistic spectrum. A long time equestrian, Marion enjoys horseback riding and ski joering with her pony mare.

Dr. Sue McDonnell is a native Pennsylvanian, raised in a dairy farming family in the anthracite coal regions north of Scranton. She holds a 1982 master’s degree in Psychology from West Chester University and a 1985 PhD in Reproductive Physiology and Behavior from the University of Delaware. She completed post doctoral study in clinical veterinary reproduction at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in 1987 and became board certified in Applied Animal Behavior in 1991. She is the founding head of the Equine Behavior Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where her work includes clinical, research, and teaching activities focused on horse behavior. Dr. McDonnell includes all types of behavior in her clinical case load, with stallion behavior as an area of particular interest and expertise.

Dr. McDonnell’s research interests include several areas within equine physiology, behavior and welfare. She has also traveled to study equids throughout the world. In addition to laboratory and field studies, she maintains a semi-feral herd of ponies specifically for the study of their physiology and behavior under semi-natural conditions. This affords veterinary and animal behavior students the opportunity for long-term observation of equine social and developmental behavior and for first-hand comparison of horse behavior under free-running and traditional domestic conditions.

Dr. McDonnell is the author of two introductory level books on horse behavior entitled Understanding Horse Behavior, and Understanding Your Horse's Behavior, published by The Blood Horse in their Horse Health Care Library Series, and the recently released catalog of horse behavior, The Equid Ethogram, A Practical Field Guide to Horse Behavior, published by Eclipse Press. Along with Dr. Danny Mills, she co-edited The Domestic Horse: Evolution, Development and Management. Among Dr. McDonnell's honors are The George Stubbs Award given by the American Association of Equine Practitioners for contributions to equine veterinary medicine by a non-veterinarian and a Gold Medal from the Agricultural University of Krakow, Poland, their highest honor for distinguished scientific collaboration.