Dr Kathy Murphy BVetMed, DPhil, CVA, CLAS, MRCVS is a clinical-academic veterinary surgeon and neuroscientist with a special interest in canine behaviour health. She holds post graduate clinical qualifications and is residency trained in veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia and laboratory animal science and has a PhD in behavioural neuroscience from the University of Oxford.

From her base in the UK,where she is Founder and Director of Barking Brains Ltd, she provides clinical, educational and business consultancy services internationally. She is faculty at Agility University, where her focus is on providing accessible neuroscientific information in a practical and easily applicable format for handlers to take their dog-sport performance to the next level and enhance the wellbeing of their dogs.

Kathy is co-founder of EthicsFirst.org with an interest in clinical ethics, holds teaching and examiner positions in the UK and abroad and is past Trustee and veterinary advisor of 16 years for the Rottweiler Welfare Association. She lives in Scotland with her husband who is a scent detection and trailing instructor, and their three dogs.

Tom Candy is a Senior Training and Behaviour Advisor for one of the largest dog rehoming organisations in the United Kingdom (note the British spelling here!) and is also a behaviour and welfare Trustee for Hope Rescue Wales. His duties include assessment, management and behaviour modification.

A passion for animal welfare and training led Tom to undertake a BSc (Hons) in bio-veterinary science, and an MSc in clinical animal behaviour from the University of Lincoln, UK.

Having started volunteering in rescue at the age of 15, Tom has been involved in a variety of aspects of rescue, including fundraising, home checks, transporting, and general day-to-day activities.

An international speaker, Tom is Clinical Animal Behaviourist with the Animal Behaviour and Training Council, and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, a Certified Shelter behaviour specialist with the IAABC, a Certified Behavior Adjustment Training Instructor - Knowledge Assessed (CBATI-KA), and a full member of the APBC. He is the host of Simplifying Shelter Behaviour Podcast available on Spotify.