Meet the people behind
Responsibly Raised Insects
Scientific Advisory Committee
RRI's Scientific Advisory Committee brings together leading researchers in insect biology, animal welfare science, and invertebrate sentience to ensure our certification standards reflect the best available evidence. Members are selected for their expertise across the species and welfare domains central to RRI's work, and for their commitment to rigorous, independent scientific review.
The Committee advises on the development and revision of RRI's welfare standards, provides guidance on emerging research relevant to insect welfare, and supports the integrity of our certification program. Their input ensures that RRI's standards remain scientifically credible, practically grounded, and responsive to advances in the field.
Dr. Heather Browning
Dr Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton. She specializes in animal welfare, ethics, and consciousness. Prior to her current position, she worked as a researcher in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics, as part of the Foundations of Animal Sentience project. She was part of the research team who produced a report for DEFRA reviewing the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans, leading to an amendment of the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act to include their protection.
Dr. Browning also sits on the board of advisors for the Insect Welfare Research Society and helped write the 2026 Guidelines for the Care and Use of Insects in Research. Alongside her academic career, she has also worked as a zookeeper and animal welfare officer.
Dr. Andrew Crump
Dr Andrew Crump is a Lecturer in Animal Cognition and Welfare at the Royal Veterinary College, London. As a biologist specialising in invertebrates, he studies questions like: Which insects might be sentient? How can we scientifically assess their welfare? And what does high-welfare insect farming look like? In 2020, Andrew completed his Ph.D. in Biology at Queen’s University Belfast; in 2016, he was awarded a first-class degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford. Andrew has published >30 scientific papers with >1,500 citations, been invited to speak globally on invertebrate welfare, and peer-reviewed for >40 academic journals.
Alongside his research, Andrew has played a leading role in advancing invertebrate welfare in UK policy. He co-authored a government-commissioned review that led to the inclusion of decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. Andrew is also a trustee of the charity Crustacean Compassion, on the coordinating group of the Animal Welfare Research Network, and an Affiliate of the Insect Welfare Research Society. As a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, he brings a critical but constructive approach, supporting certification schemes grounded in the best available animal welfare science.
Dr. Matilda Gibbons
Dr. Matilda Gibbons is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on the scientific indicators of sentience across biological and artificial systems. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and a Digital Sentience Consortium Research Fellow, where she studies the neural and computational mechanisms underlying consciousness. She is also a SPAR (Supervised Program for Alignment Risk) Research Fellow and a mentor with the Sentient Futures Project Incubator.
Dr. Gibbons’ research has explored the neurobiology and behavioral indicators of sentience in insects, using reviews of evidence in many insect orders and experimental evidence in bumblebees and fruit flies. She lead the first comprehensive review of whether insects can feel pain, which evaluated the neural and behavioral evidence and found a strong likelihood of pain in some insect orders. In addition to her academic research, she works to translate scientific findings into practical guidance for policy and industries working with insects, including helping to develop some of the first policy guidelines for insect welfare in research.
Dr. Craig Perl
Dr. Craig Perl is an entomologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, with research interests spanning insect physiology, sensory ecology, and morphology. He has focused his recent work on the emerging field of insect welfare — developing statistical tools to support animal use reduction, conducting experiments to improve industrial slaughter methods, and investigating trends in ethical reporting within entomological research. His published research includes practical guidance for protecting insect welfare in research contexts.
Dr. Perl's work has been covered in Science magazine and has contributed to growing momentum around precautionary welfare standards for insects in both research and industrial contexts. As a member of RRI's Scientific Advisory Committee, he brings expertise in insect biology and welfare science to support the development of certification standards.
Staff
Alyse Spiehler
Founder and Executive Director of RRI
Alyse Spiehler is the Founder and Executive Director of Responsibly Raised Insects. She brings a decade of operations experience across nonprofit and startup environments. Her experience is paired with her deep commitment to animal welfare, informed by her graduate research on animal wellbeing and responsible consumer systems. Alyse is driven by a desire to build the partnerships necessary to ensure that insects’ welfare is represented in the future of the industry. The rapid growth of insect farming presents an exciting opportunity to establish welfare as standard practice in an industry still taking shape, and she sees RRI as uniquely positioned to take advantage of that opportunity.
Alyse works to bridge the gap between welfare science and industry practice, supporting the development of certification standards that are both grounded in rigorous research and practical for producers to implement. Her approach to building RRI reflects a commitment to holistic systems design — aligning operational infrastructure, scientific expertise, and stakeholder collaboration so that welfare is woven into how facilities operate from the ground up.