Karen Wagener is a research assistant at the Clinical Unit for Herd Health Management in Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria. She is Diplomate of the European College of Animal Reproduction and a specialist in the subspecialty of bovine reproduction. Her research is focused on clinical and subclinical endometritis in dairy cows and covers microbiological and immunological aspects linked to subfertility. Her overall research goal is to contribute to the development of effective preventive and therapeutic measures against uterine disease.

Dr. Dimitrios Rizos is a “Professor of Research” at the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (CSIC-INIA), Department of Animal Reproduction, Madrid-Spain. He received his Ph.D. from University College Dublin in 2002, where he spent a further 3 years as a post-doctoral fellow. In 2004, he got a Research-Fellowship and 2006 permanent position as “Senior Researcher” leading a dynamic group in “Assisted Reproduction and Preimplantation Embryology in Cattle” at CSIC-INIA. His main research focus on: factors affecting embryo production in vitro; mechanisms controlling embryo-maternal interactions and the role of Extracellular Vesicles (EVs); fertility in dairy cows. Dr. Rizos has over 120 peer-reviewed papers, dissemination articles, book chapters and numerous invitations to plenary lectures at International Conferences-Symposia. He is active member in various scientific committees and was elected to the Board of Governors of the Association of Embryo Technologies in Europe (AETE:2010-2015) and International Embryo Technology Association (IETS:2016-2020), and elected President of AETE (2015-2018).

G.C. Fthenakis is Professor and Past-Dean of the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Thessaly.
After postgraduate studies at The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, he has become a de facto Diplomate of ECAR and invited specialist Diplomate of ECSRHM, where he was also the Foundation President.
Fthenakis has lectured in the veterinary schools of the Universities of Edinburgh, Guelph, Hannover, Liverpool, Thessaloniki and Zaragoza.
He has supervised ten PhD theses and one European Veterinary College specialisation programme. He has managed 29 research grants, among them the projects ‘Goshomics’ (1,788,500 €) and ‘Academic teaching experience for young scientists at the University of Thessaly’ (6,150,000 €).
Fthenakis has published works include 228 papers (IF: 480.5) with 4950 citations (h-index: 38), four books and 76 invited/keynote presentations in conferences world-wide.
His interests are in health management, reproduction, diseases and welfare of small ruminants.

I studied veterinary medicine in Gießen, Germany, and afterwards worked as an Intern and later-on as a scientific assistant at the Clinic for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Andrology of Large and Small Animals, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen. Changed to Copenhagen university, Denmark as Associate Professor for Reproduction at the Department of Large Animal Sciences. Since 2018 I am a full Professor for Reproductive Medicine of dogs and cats, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany.

My doctoral thesis was about semen quality in stallions and my habilitation about the application of slow release GnRH agonists in male dogs and cats. Diplomate of the European College for Animal Reproduction and German Specialist in breeding hygiene and biotechnology of reproduction. I had the honour to be EVSSAR board member (2013-2019) and former treasurer. My main focus of interest is contraception, infertility and uterine inertia.

Bianca Gasparrini, DVM (1994) and PhD in “Animal Breeding” at Federico II University of Naples (1999). During her PhD she spent a 1 year-research stage at AgResearch Reproductive Technologies Laboratory, Hamilton, New Zealand. She held a postdoctorate position at the Department “Division of Gene Expression and Development”, Roslin Institute, UK and was team leader of the embryo culture group (2000-2001). She entered academia at the Dep. of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, Federico II University of Naples in 2002 and since 2020 is Full professor of Veterinary obstetrics and gynecology. Her main research topics are reproductive biotechnologies applied to animal breeding, with main focus on buffalo reproduction. She served as Trustee of the Foundation of the International Embryo Technology Society and Chair of the Education Committee (2016-2021). She has been principal investigator of several research projects, she has many international co-operations and she is co-author of 237 publications.

I am professor in applied animal breeding and genetics. My research is mainly on the understanding and use of the genetic variation in traits important for a sustainable breeding program. I am specialized in dairy cattle and do research and teaching in most economical and ethical important traits. One focus is the genetic background to reproduction- and health traits and new phenotypic measurements for the traits. I have published more than 150 peer reviewed scientific articles.

Elaine (Lenny) van Erp-van der Kooij has an MSc in Animal Science from Wageningen University and a PhD in Veterinary Science from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Her PhD research was on coping behaviour in fattening pigs. She is a professor in Precision Livestock Farming at HAS University of Applied Science in the Netherlands and visiting Professor of Practice at Harper Adams University in the UK. Her main focus is using sensor technology and data science in livestock production, aiming to improve the health and welfare of farm animals and to make farming more sustainable. Projects and studies include sensor applications in dairy cows, pigs and poultry and also companion animals and horses.