Steven McCulloch
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Steven is a veterinary surgeon, who holds a BA in philosophy. He is interested in many aspects of animal welfare and ethics, although his central focus is on the ethics, welfare and economics of animal use in agriculture and the issue of climate change and sustainable food policy.
Biography
Steven qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the University of Bristol in 2002. He then lived and worked in Hong Kong, travelling around Asia when he could. Since then, Steven has worked as a small animal veterinary surgeon in the UK and Hong Kong.
Steven has long had a passionate interest in animal welfare and ethics. Since graduation as a veterinary surgeon, he has been awarded a second degree, in philosophy, from the University of London.
More specifically, Steven’s academic interests include:
- The ethics, welfare and economics of animal use in agriculture
- Environmental ethics, particularly in relation to sustainable food policy
- Ethical decision making tools and animal welfare assessment frameworks
- The philosophy of animal minds
- The ethics of the human-animal interaction
Steven is a committee member of AWSELVA (Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association), and was co-organiser of the First International Conference on Veterinary and Animal Ethics held in London, September 2011. Steven is a member of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), the Society for Applied Philosophy (SAP), the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) and the Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN) .
Steven will consider requests to speak at conferences or elsewhere or to write about matters that are related to animal welfare and ethics.
Research
Steven’s current research focuses on an ethical analysis of veterinary and agricultural policy.
More precisely, the research involves a review and analysis of past and present UK agricultural policy, in order to develop and explore an ethical framework that can be used to analyse the effects of prospective policies on humans, animals and the environment.
Teaching
Steven teaches ethics and welfare to veterinary surgeons, as part of the MVetMed degree, veterinary nurses as part of the BSc VN Professional Studies module, and supervises veterinary and science undergraduates in their research projects on ethics and welfare.
Selected Publications
McCulloch S P (in press) Sustainability, animal welfare and ethical food policy: a comparative analysis of sustainable intensification and holistic integrative naturalism. Proceedings of the the 10th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics (EurSafe) 2012 - Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production. Wageningen Academic Publishers.
McCulloch S P (in press) Agriculture, animal welfare and climate change. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Veterinary and Animal Ethics.
McCulloch S P (2012) Against an aesthetic basis for animal protection: a reply to David Lamb’s ‘Welfare and aesthetics’. The Journal of the AWSELVA Vol.15 No.1 Winter 2011-2012 http://www.awselva.org.uk/journals
McCulloch S P (2011) Letter to the Editor, Dog breeding, Veterinary Record 169:503-504 http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/169/19/503.2.extract
McCulloch S (2011) Financially strapped owner with suffering cat. Everyday ethics. In Practice, Vol 33: 297-298 http://inpractice.bmj.com/content/33/6/297.abstract
McCulloch S (2011) The Bionic Vet: we don't know where to draw the line. The great debate. The Veterinary Times, Vol 41, No 4: 14 http://www.vetsonline.com/Recherche/Resultat/ab009ffaef2d968e0b3b968f8bb97e77/0
Phillips C J C and McCulloch S (2005) Student attitudes on animal sentience and use of animals in society. Journal of Biological Education, 40 1: 17-24 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00219266.2005.9656004
Conference Presentations
McCulloch S P (December 2011) Agriculture, animal welfare and climate change: An analysis of sustainable intensification and radical naturalism as responses to the impending perfect storm. Newcastle Animal Ethics and Sustainable Food Policy Conference http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2011/12/steven-mcculloch-agriculture-animal-welfare-and-climate-change-an-analysis-of-sustainable-intensification-and-radical-naturalism-as-responses-to-the-impending-perfect-storm/
McCulloch S P (September 2011) Agriculture, animal welfare and climate change. The First International Conference on Veterinary and Animal Ethics, London
McCulloch S P (August 2011) Animal ethics and the environmental issue. MANCEPT workshops in political theory, Manchester
McCulloch S P (July 2011) The philosophy of James Rachels and the moral implications of Darwinism. Conference - The evolution of morality and the morality of evolution. St. Anne's College, Oxford University
McCulloch S P (June 2011) WTO: History, political legitimacy and consequences for farm animal welfare. Poster presentation. UFAW International Symposium, Portsmouth
McCulloch S P (December 2010) The emotional impact of pain in laboratory animals. LASA Annual Meeting, Southampton