Jonathan Rushton

Chair of Economics of Animal Health

Biography

Background

Jonathan Rushton is an agricultural economist who specialises in the economics of animal health and food systems. He has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas over the last 35 years. His principal research interests are the: Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) where he directs a global programme co-led in phase II with WOAH (founded as OIE) (https://animalhealthmetrics.org); economics of antimicrobial use and resistance in livestock; and assessment of the multidimensionality of food quality and public health. He is involved in the EU funded projects: ROADMAP (https://www.roadmap-h2020.eu) on the economics and social sciences of antimicrobial use in livestock; DECIDE (https://decideproject.eu) on data-driven approached for the prioritisation and control of non-regulated diseases and VIVACE (https://vivace.hub.inrae.fr/) a project that will train a new generation of scientists to assess the biological, social and economic impacts of HPAI vaccination. Jonathan embraces One Health approaches in the search for solutions to society’s health problems.

Between 2006 and 2008 Jonathan worked as an economist on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations driving the need for a food systems approach to animal disease mitigation measures. He returned to the UK determined to increase the cadre of professionals working on the economics of animal and One Health. During his initial work at the Royal Veterinary College he won EU funding for NEAT a network (NEAT https://neat-network.eu/) on the economics of animal health and founded the International Society for Economics and Social Sciences of Animal Health (http://www.isessah.com). Between 2012 and 2014 Jonathan was a non-executive member of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England, DEFRA. In 2016, he worked with OIE on the economics of animal health presenting their technical paper at the 84th General Session. This led to a resolution on the need for the assessment of animal disease burdens (Resolution 2016 No 35 https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2021/03/a-reso-2016-public.pdf). Jonathan joined the University of Liverpool in October 2016 where he won monies to initiate the transdisciplinary Global Burden of Animal Diseases programme and establish a WOAH Collaborating Centre for Europe on the Economics of Animal Health. In 2020 he became a Senior IIAD Fellow in Epidemiology at Texas A&M.

In May 2025 Jonathan joined the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh as professor of economics of animal health strengthening his links with world leading animal health research at the University's Easter Bush campus.

CV

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