Donald is a scientist who has worked on ethical issues in ethics and biotechnology for over 30 years, as Director of the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland (1992-2007) and then as an independent consultant. He chaired an expert working group on the ethics of genetic modification in non-human life forms in the mid-1990’s, co-editing the book Engineering Genesis (Earthscan, 1998), which was the first in depth text on the subject. He has continued to write and speak on GM and genome editing issues, particularly the application of genome editing to farm animals. He has just finished 7 years as a member of the Home Office Animals in Science Committee, which advises the government on a wide range of issues in animal research. He has been much involved in public engagement on these and other related issues, including the recent European Commission BovReg research programme on genomic selection in cattle, in which one question was how far humans should 'redesign' animals for our own purposes rather than the animals.