Dr Steven McCulloch

Dr Steven McCulloch is Research Fellow in Veterinary Policy at The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience within LSE’s Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. He is also part of the LSE’s Global School of Sustainability. His research focuses on the policies of national veterinary associations on farmed animal welfare, sustainability and meat reduction.

Steven qualified as veterinary surgeon from the University of Bristol in 2002. Steven has a degree in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, London (2007), and a PhD from the Royal Veterinary College, London (2015) for his thesis ‘The British animal health and welfare policy process: accounting for the interests of sentient species’. His doctoral research found that the UK government excludes the interests of sentient species, and he recommended reforms including mandatory animal welfare impact assessments and an independent council to scrutinise government policy making that affects sentient species.

He is a diplomat of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioral Medicine, and a recognised veterinary specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and Head of Research at the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation. Steven was Senior Lecturer in Human-Animal Studies at the University of Winchester between 2018 and 2025.

Steven’s research is focused on the intersection of animal welfare science and policy, with a focus on farmed animals. His research is global and diverse; he has published on the impacts of Brexit in the UK, the EU and internationally, CITES policy in southeast Asia, and Dutch and Belgium political party manifestos on animal protection. Steven has provided expert advice to policy makers in the UK Government and Parliament and the Netherlands Government. He provided oral and written evidence to the EFRACom inquiry on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill in 2021. Steven’s impact case study ‘Animal welfare impact assessment, Brexit and sentience policy’ was submitted to the REF 2021.

For the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, he has published reports on non-stun slaughter, farrowing cages for pigs, British public opinion on farmed animal welfare, method-of-production labelling for animal welfare, and carbon dioxide stunning and killing of pigs. In this role, Steven has presented his research to DEFRA, spoken at Parliamentary lobbying events and regularly collaborates with colleagues in leading UK-based animal protection NGOs to inform policy. He was commissioned to write a report ‘Political Animals: The Democratic and Electoral Case for Strong Animal Welfare Policies in UK General Elections’ for the 2024 elections. He was invited to speak at the European Parliament by Eurogroup for Animals in 2019.

Steven has argued that the veterinary profession should support rights for animals to better protect them, for instance in an article in the Veterinary Record and at the British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Forum (see research highlights). During the past year he has focused on intensive pig production globally. His ‘Vets must condemn intensive pig farming’ together with subsequent letters including ‘The vet profession has failed to protect pig welfare’ were published in the Veterinary Record. He has written short articles focused on the RSPCA Assured pig standards, such as ‘RSPCA assurance of CO₂ killing – market failure, promotion of pig consumption and inhumane slaughter’.