Professor Gareth Arnott is a Professor of Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare within the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. He is a behavioural biologist whose research interests span from fundamental behavioural ecology through to applied animal welfare. He has a research track record studying social interactions related to animal contest behaviour, with a focus on the information-gathering and decision-making processes used in contests and informed by relevant theory. Gareth is also the academic lead for the BBSRC funded Animal Welfare Research Network and is a member of the UK government’s Animal Welfare Committee.