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Meet the Hartpury University Host Committee Team!
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Dr. Clare Thomas Pino, Host Chair
Clare works for Hartpury University as a Senior Lecturer. She is the Programme manager for BSc (Hons) Human Animal Interaction and module leads topics such as Animals in Education and Contemporary Issues in Anthrozoology.
Clare’s academic background includes Psychology, Animal Behaviour, and Mental Health Counselling. In addition to being on the BOD for ISAZ, she is on the IAHAIO/AAII Task Forces for terminology and provider education. For HHRF she is chair of the scientific advisory council and a grant reviewer. She was a SME who helped develop the C-AAIS for AAAIP, was on the EFMHA BOD, and content reviewed 2 books on Clinical Practice in EAS. Clare’s volunteered with youth STEM education, domestic violence and grieving children’s agencies and used to run a 70-acre educational farm. Clare’s research focuses on ensuring best practices within HAI and optimal wellbeing for both humans and animals within AAS.
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Dr. Darcy Bornemann, Host Co-Chair
Darcy works for Hartpury University as the HE Process Advisors and Lecturer in the Animal and Agriculture Department. She also works for University of Gloucestershire as a part-time lecturer in Marketing and Business.
Darcy is a member of the Association for Consumer Research, The British Horse Society, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Darcy research interests centre on consumer motivation with focus on animal ownership, and human-animal interactions. Darcy is a passionate advocate for horse people and positively influencing human behaviour change practices and research; she is open for collaboration in areas such as animal ownership, communication, marketing principles in human behaviour change, and human motivation.
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Ms. Rosie Scott-Ward, Committee Member
Rosie is Pro-Vice Chancellor at Hartpury University. Rosie has subsequently held a variety of academic and commercial roles including Equine Director and Dean of Teaching and Learning. Rosie is the senior manager responsible for all academic activity within the university provision and the wider equine activity within the organisation.
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Dr. Wanda McCormick, Committee Member
Wanda works for Hartpury University as the Head of Department for the Animal and Agriculture.
Wanda is a member of the Animal Welfare Research Network, Royal Society of Biology and a STEM Ambassador. She also sits on the Research Engagement Group for the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is a voluntary reviewer for Animals journal.
Wanda also works closely with a wide range of industry partners on applied animal welfare topics. These include pet food companies, such as Dodson & Horrell Ltd, and professional industry bodies, such as the Pet Food Manufacturers Association, Pet Industry Federation and British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Wanda's research interests cover a wide range of animal welfare topics, especially those surrounding the physiological impacts of welfare challenges in captive animals. Most of her current projects are focused around companion animal welfare, especially nutrition.
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Dr. Chris Pawson, Committee Member
Chris works as a Reader in Anthrozoology for Hartpury, leading the MRes in Anthrozoology and teaching and module leading on the Psychology courses in the BSc(Hons) HAI degree. Chris is a psychologist specialising in applying our understanding of behaviour to promote psychological wellbeing, and positive human-animal interactions. His research interests include animal cognition and welfare, and the psychological health of animal care professionals.
Additionally, Chris works for UWE and led the Psychology team for 8 years in his role as Associate Head of Department for Health and Social Sciences. He joined UWE from the University of East London School of Psychology where he was a Principal Lecturer and Leader in Learning and Teaching. Prior to joining UEL and completing his PhD at the Institute for Research in Child Development Chris worked for H.M. Home Office working on the evaluation of psychological interventions for young people and their families.
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Mr. Evangelos Diamantakos, Committee Member
Evangelos (Vangelis) works for Hartpury University as a Senior Lecturer in Canine Science. He is currently a visiting lecturer and PhD candidate at the University of Thessaly in Greece.
Vangelis has a multidimensional background in canine behaviour, training, welfare and academia. He has senior managerial experience in operations, education and evaluation of canine staff in the armed forces, the public, the private and the charity sector. Vangelis is a member of the Animal Assisted Interventions Alliance of the University of Queensland (UoQ, AUS) and Kynos Nous Dog Assisted Interventions multidisciplinary team (Athens, Greece). Vangelis is an ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist and full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC, UK). He is the author of three books and a researcher in Dog Assisted Interventions, human – dog bond and welfare; he sees dogs on behavioural referral from veterinary surgeons in Greece and the UK.
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Ms. Linda Greening, Committee Member
Linda is the Head of Inclusivity at Hartpury University and specialises in teaching equine behaviour. She is currently a PhD Candidate with the University of the West of England. Linda holds external positions on the editorial board for Applied Animal Behaviour Science, chairs the Equity Diversity Inclusivity and Accessibility Committee for the International Society for Applied Ethology, and is the Education Liaison Officer for BAME Equine and Rural activities focus group (BERF).
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Dr. Ivana Schork, Committee Member
Ivana works for Hartpury as a Lecturer teaching and module leading on both undergraduate and graduate programmes. Her research interests are focused on the development of novel techniques to monitor animal behaviour and welfare. Her current research focuses on sleep behaviour as a measure of animal welfare in domestic dogs and captive giraffe, employing several innovative technologies to understand how sleep fragmentation may affect species behaviour leading to a decrease in quality of life. This project involves partnership with different institutions in the UK, Brazil, Austria, and Israel.
Ivana investigated captive carnivore welfare at San Diego Zoo and Safari Park related to both captive and natural history, the zoo environment and behavioural diversity. During her MSc, she researched Military Police horses in Brazil, investigating how abnormal behaviours and health conditions are associated with individuals' personalities. As an undergrad, she interned at a Zoological Institution in South Brazil and investigated the effectiveness of different enrichment techniques to increase behavioural diversity and welfare. She has also been a field biologist in different population translocation and population monitoring projects in areas impacted by human activities (such as mining activities) in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado areas in Brazil.
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Mr. Ben Klinkenberg, Committee Member
Ben works as a Lecturer for Hartpury, and has a keen interest in human-wildlife interactions and how these shape opinions of species and support for conservation. Ben is currently completing his PhD evaluating social aspects of human-wildlife conflict to create conservation-based solutions to mitigate conflict to allow for coexistence. He believes the social aspect plays a key role within conservation and should be used as more of a standard for success when review reintroductions and other conservation efforts. He is co-chair of Friends of Robinswood Hill volunteer group who help with conservation efforts and community engagement with nature on Robinswood Hill and Gloucester.
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Ms. Gemma Penhorwood, Committee Member
Gemma works as a Junior Lecturer for Hartpury, leading and teaching modules in Agriculture, Animal and Equine Departments. She has worked on collaborative research with UCLAN assessing and measuring (dis)abled riders to amend the sport classification system used by the FEI during the paralympics. She has extensive research interests in animal behaviour and welfare, particularly in horses and the impact of human interaction with them, as well as prior research in conservation genetics and haplotyping.
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Professor Vicky Melfi, Committee Member
With over 30 years working within the zoo profession, as well as holding various academic appointments, I am a passionate advocate of professional/academic collaborations to gather data which can underpin evidence based practice, to achieve great animal welfare and conservation outcomes. I believe that empowering people, with the knowledge and skills, needed to implement evidence based practice is fundamental to successfully improving animal welfare and conservation. A central theme in my research, teaching and professional activities, is a keen interest in human-animal interactions; where an understanding of both is critical to enhancing the lives of both parties and ensureing a healthy planet. Research interests include: Exploring human-animal interactions, especially with wildlife. Ensuring good animal welfare during interactions with humans. Establishing positive stakeholder engagement in wildlife conservation. Evaluating the value of zoos within communities; including Zoos on Prescription.
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Dr. Helen Tedds, Committee Member
Helen's principle research interests and teaching experience lie in the area of Animal Welfare Science, with particular focus on companion animal behaviour and welfare, and animal welfare policy and law. She has relevant industry experience with organisations such as the RSPCA and the Guide Dogs, and has also worked in the pet trade and with farm livestock. After completing her undergraduate studies in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, she started a career in lecturing and alongside this completed an MSc in Animal Welfare, eventually becoming a Senior Lecturer in Animal and Equine studies until 2018.
From 2018 she worked towards a PhD on the herpetofauna trade (University of Northampton), with a specific focus on what husbandry information is available to owners, what species are being traded and the socio-economic factors associated with this. This PhD was awarded in August 2023 subject to minor corrections. During this time she also served as an external examiner for the University of Hull and the University of Nottingham. In 2021 she joined the team at Hartpury University in the Department of Animal and Agriculture where she specialises in animal welfare policy and legislation. She also continues to act as an Academic Consultant for the University of Hull. Helen is currently the UFAW LINKS Academic at Hartpury University and is also a member of A-LAW (UK Centre for Animal Law). She is a member of the Animal Welfare Research Network (AWRN) and also joined its Early Career Researcher (ECR) committee in Oct 2023 as the Animal Welfare Law Representative.
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Ms. Emma Collyer-Page, Conference Support Team
Emma works for Hartpury University as Commercial Events and Customer Service Manager. Emma’s team provide the catering and support for on-site facilities the conference will be using.
Mr. Gary Dennett, Conference Support Team
Gary works for Hartpury University as AV and IT Support Desk Officer. Gary along with the IT Support team provide the technical support for the facilities the conference will be using.
Anthrozoology and Human-Animal Interactions at Hartpury
Hartpury currently has the UK’s first BSC (Hons) undergraduate degree in Human- Animal Interaction with Psychology, as well as a MRes in Anthrozoology and a MSc in Animal Assisted Counselling. Other degrees related to Anthrozoology include Animal and Canine Training and Performance, Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Zoology, and Veterinary Nursing to name just a few. Most staff in the Animal and Agriculture Department complete research which bridges the gap between humans, animals, and the environment. With our amazing campus as our classroom, we not only have many animal species in our animal collection, farm and equine facilities, we also have an abundance of wild species, from hedgehogs, bats, birds, and much more which students and staff explore and research.
Our mission is to prepare graduates of our BSc Human-Animal Interaction with Psychology to confidently apply their knowledge of psychology, animal behaviour, and anthrozoology to the ethical and sustainable practice of interactions between humans and animals from small scale practical management through to wider impacts on both people and animals within society. We aim to broaden our reach by sharing this mission with ISAZ conference attendees.