In this episode I get to chat with pioneer in HAI and visiting professor at Lincoln, Dr Sandra McCune.
Sandra qualified as a registered veterinary nurse (Royal College of Veterinary Nursing) in Dublin before completing a degree in zoology from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. She has a PhD in animal behaviour and welfare from the University of Cambridge, U.K. She has studied a range of companion animal topics including aspects of temperament, behaviour, cognition and welfare, and Human-Animal Interaction (HAI).
Until 2019, Sandra was a scientific leader for Mars Petcare, based at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute. For 12 years, she led the HAI area in research and then HAI science communications, and established Mars as the industry’s thought leader in this field. She has extensive experience studying HAI from both animal and human perspectives in collaborations with HAI researchers from the USA, U.K., Austria, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Japan and China and regularly presents internationally on companion animals and their relationship with people.
Sandra was instrumental in the establishment of the public-private partnership between the National Institutes of Health and Mars/WALTHAM focused on child development and HAI resulting in a multi-million dollar programme of high-quality HAI research, workshops and several edited volumes, journal series and book chapters.
She is the founding director of Animal Matters Consultancy Ltd, providing expert input on a wide range of animal issues. She is a SCAS trustee and a Fellow of the Annenberg PetSpace Leadership Institute. She shares her home with her family including two cats and a lurcher.
Researchgate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra_Mccune/publications.
Twitter: @sandra_mccune LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-mccune/