Prof. Dr. Susanne Waiblinger has been an Associate Professor at the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Welfare of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, since 2004, leading the group on human–animal relationships and ruminant behavior and welfare. Susanne is a veterinarian specializing in ethology, animal husbandry, and animal welfare science (i.a. Dipl. ECAWBM–AWSEL), and worked in this field in 1991 for two years at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, after she finished her doctoral thesis in immunology. Thereafter, she worked in small and large animal practices and qualified as a veterinary officer before joining the Vetmeduni Vienna in 1997 as a lecturer. Besides human–animal relationships in different species, her research focuses on the interactions between environment, social behavior, and welfare in dairy cows and goats, including ontogenetic aspects, as well as on the on-farm assessment of animal welfare in ruminants and, more recently, in poultry.
Prof. Chiara Mariti is an Associate Professor at the University of Pisa (Italy), where she carries out teaching and research activities focused mainly on the behavior and welfare of pets and on anthrozoology. She graduated with a degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2003, disserting a thesis on dog–man communication. She also graduated with a degree in Dog Training and Breeding in 2009, with a thesis on dog attachment towards man. She has a Master's degree in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine and a Ph.D. in horse behavior. She has published many papers and spoken as an invited speaker at several international congresses on canine, feline, and equine behavior and welfare. She is a founder of AVEC (Associazione Veterinary Esperti in Comportamento).
