Kate Richards

Kate Richards has breadth and depth of experience in agriculture and food production in the public and private sectors. Beginning her career as a farm vet in Aberdeenshire, she also worked as an Official Veterinarian. Leaving clinical practice, Kate provided livestock advice to the UK subsidiary of a global pharmaceutical company before joining Defra as a farm animal welfare veterinary advisor at the same time as joining the (then) BCVA Council. Promoted to Scientific Secretary of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, formed in response to the emerging BSE crisis, Kate worked with scientists and experts across the globe. As well as veterinary expertise, Kate has extensive experience of communications and stakeholder engagement through her work in five Whitehall departments and as a Council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), and was elected RCVS President 2021/22. Kate is a Non-Executive Director of Food Standards Scotland, Scottish Agriculture College Commercial Ltd and the Moredun Research Institute and has a passion for building connections and disseminating veterinary expertise for the benefit of public, as well as animal, health and welfare.