Professor Daniel Berckmans has a Master degree in Bio-Engineering and a Ph D on Controlling Biological Systems. He has worked at KU Leuven for 35 years as a full-professor, teaching and doing research. He was leading a research team in real-time modelling of individual living organisms: humans and animals. He is recognized worldwide as the spiritual father of the field of Precision Livestock Farming: real-time monitoring of livestock. Since 2001, half of the research team worked on human applications: real-time monitoring in intensive care unit, stress monitoring, physical condition monitoring, etc. He is co-author in over 300 peer reviewed scientific publications and over 400 conference papers. Since 1981 he has experience in product development, the research team has co-developed 17 products with industrial partners, which went to the world market both. He has coordinated several EU projects, the last one with a budget of 8 M&e€ and 20 partners in which 4 new spin-off companies were started as part of the project. Beside this, he co-started 2 spin-off companies on real-time monitoring of individuals. He is co-inventor of 20 patents. He has retired in 2017 but is still teaching for 1 day/week and is working for BioRICS 4 days/week as CTO and chairman of the board.

Gerardo Caja holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering (Animal Science) and PhD in Ruminant Nutrition from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Since 1985 he is full Professor in Animal Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Animal and Food Science, and since 2003 he is member of Catalonia's Academy of Veterinary Sciences. Dr Caja's main areas of research are dairy ruminants (including cows, ewes, goats and camels) with special focus on basic and applied aspects of lactation biology (lactation induction, mammogenesis and milk regulation), milking (equipment design, frequency and routines), nutrition (intake, requirements, glucose and protein metabolism) and feeding (grazing and concentrate, supplementation with protein, fat, oils and additives) and implementation of good husbandry practices (welfare, suckling and weaning strategies, conventional and electronic identification). He is currently developing the use of sensors (temperature, activity and pH) in precision livestock farming for improving the wellbeing and productivity of dairy animals.

Assaf Godo is an R&D Engineer at ARO Israel. His background includes a B.Sc. in agricultural engineering and 10 years of experience as a Technical Support manager at Lely Israel, a Dutch company dealing in advanced agro-technologies and specializing in development and production of robotic milking systems. He specialized in technical support for robotic milking systems in dairy farms, including professional consultation and mechanical, pneumatic and electronic solutions in a computerized environment. With this experience and knowledge, he began to work in his current position at the PLF lab, developing a device for monitoring the body condition and growth rate of sheep. Being on the "other side" of the product, as a developer, introduced him to new thinking challenges and requires him to seek solutions and acquire new tools. One of the most challenging and fascinating areas was the control system which opened a new world of possibilities for him. Besides his love for technology and animals he has a loved wife and 2 children and likes running, especially in the fields around his home.

Margalida Joy Torrens holds a BSc in Veterinary Science from the University of Zaragoza, an MSc in Animal Nutrition from IAMZ-CIHEAM and a PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She was a visiting researcher at the University of California, Davis from 1991 to 1993 and at the University of Western Australia (WA) in 2012. Since 2007 she has been working as a researcher at the Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA). Her research activity focuses on ruminants, especially on issues related to feeding and production systems. Dr Joy is currently head of a research group accredited for excellence by Aragon's Regional Government (A14_17R): Sustainable AgriFood and livestock systems (SAGAS). She has authored more than 70 SCI publications and has supervised 5 Theses.

Chris Knight holds a BSc (Hons)Iii from the University of Nottingham and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is EAAP Leroy Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Production Animal Physiology at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health Sciences IVH. He is a highly experienced food animal scientist with an international reputation for innovative research in all aspects of lactation science and mammary gland biology, combined with considerable senior management experience in public and private sectors. After a research-based career in Scotland at the Hannah Research Institute, Chris moved to Copenhagen in 2007 where we held teaching and research responsibilities. At the same time he embarked on a "European Collaboration" strategy and has been involved in a number of EU research and teaching projects. Chris is now self-employed with a contractual and consultancy focus on scientific publishing and research networking

Christina Umstätter is head of the research group 'Automation and Labour Organization' at Agroscope since 04/2017. Agroscope is the Swiss centre of excellence for agricultural research. She is responsible for the research on Precision Livestock Farming and labour organization. This involves the development and evaluation of new approaches to measure animal behaviour, to develop decision support systems for animal health and welfare monitoring and to look at the impact of new technologies on labour organization and efficiency. The main focus of this work lies currently on pasture based dairy systems. Before she took up the post at Agroscope, Christina Umstätter was employed as a Grazing Biologist at SRUC's Hill&Mountain Research Centre in Scotland and worked in the area of precision pasture management. At Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, her PhD topic dealt with the interaction of animals and milking robots.