Dr Samantha Ward is an Associate Professor of Zoo Animal Welfare at Nottingham Trent University. Sam is a Committee member of the Animal Records Working Group for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the Research Advisor for the Charity ‘Wild Welfare’, a member of the ‘Global Wildlife Welfare Working Group’ and sit as the Welfare Expert on the Zoo’s Executive Committee as part of Defra, advising the UK Government on UK zoo-matters including re-writing the Secretary State Standards for Modern Zoo Practice and the Zoo Licensing Act.