Dr. Antonio Velarde holds a Veterinarian Sciences degree, PhD in Animal Production, and Master in Science and Welfare of Laboratory Animals. He is European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law by the European College of Animal Welfare and Behaviour Medicine. 

Currently, he is head of the Animal Welfare Program in IRTA (Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology-Spain) and member member of the Animal Health and Animal Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). He is deputy coordinator of the European Reference Centre for the Welfare of Poultry and other small farmed animals. 

Since 2017, Dr. Velarde is member of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare as independent expert. He has been member of the of the animal transport sub-group and coordinator of the “Unweaned animals” group. He participated also in the DG Sante funded projects on “Guides to Good and Best Practice” (http://www.animaltransportguides.eu/), “High quality control posts” and “Animal transport certification” (http://www.controlpost.eu/controlpost/index.php/en/).

Research topics include animal welfare on farm, transport and slaughter, risk assessment on animal welfare and sustainability in animal production. He has published 90 peer review papers in international journals and co-edited three books: ‘On farm monitoring of pig welfare’ (Wageningen Academic Publishers), ‘Animal welfare at slaughter’ (5m Publishing. Sheffield, UK) and ‘Bienestar Animal. Una vision global en Iberoamerica’ (Elsevier).