Have you ever wondered who is behind SCAS’s social media posts, website updates, and emails? The Communications Team is a group of dedicated individuals who bring diverse skills and experience, while all sharing the same passion for the human–companion animal bond.
As part of our efforts to deliver our ambitious communications plan, we recently welcomed three new volunteers to the team: ParizadBaria-Unwalla, Émilie Crossley, and Lori Hoy.
Get ready to meet the people driving our communication efforts forward!
Dr Sandra McCune: Communications Team Leader
Sandra’s background is in veterinary nursing and ethology, studying a range of companion animal topics including temperament, behaviour, cognition and welfare, and Human-Animal Interaction (HAI). Until 2019, she was a scientific leader for Mars Petcare, based at the WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute. She has extensive experience studying HAI from both animal and human perspectives in collaboration with HAI researchers from around the world.
Sandra played a key role establishing the public-private partnership between the National Institutes of Health and Mars/WALTHAM focused on child development and HAI, resulting in a programme of high-quality HAI research, workshops and publications.
Sandra is a Visiting Professor of Human-Animal Interaction at the School of Life Sciences and School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln. She leads the Communications Team at SCAS and also chairs the SCAS-initiated international steering group focused on improving access to pet-friendly housing. She shares her home with her family including a cat and a lurcher.
Dr Kris Hill: Volunteer Communications Officer
Kris earned a PhD in Anthrozoology from the University of Exeter in 2023. Her doctoral research focused on discourses surrounding roaming cats (Felis catus) and cat-human relations. Other academic areas of interest include more-than-human families, griefwork, animal representations, Mediterranean street cats and tourism, and cat-human cultures.
Since 2019, Kris has authored or co-authored several peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and presented her research to a range of audiences. Kris co-organises an annual free online student conference in human-animal studies (Anthrozoology as International Practice, AIP) and is co-founder and host on The Anthrozoology Podcast. Kris co-founded The Academic Cat Think Tank (e-CATT), which is a cross-disciplinary group of academics whose interests are related to domestic cats or small wild cat species.
Since 2021, Kris has served as a Communications Officer for the Society of Companion Animal Studies (SCAS), and in 2023 joined the board of trustees. Read more about Kris’ research interests and collaborative projects here: https://academiccatlady.com/
Parizad Baria-Unwalla: Volunteer Communications Officer
Parizad is an animal welfare researcher with a background in architecture and communications. After a decade of involvement in local animal rescue groups and years of fostering, she is now building a career dedicated to improving animal lives.
Parizad has worked on dog behaviour and welfare projects in the UK and Portugal and is currently working with Global Food Partners on the welfare of laying hens in India. Her research interests lie in companion animal welfare, with a special interest in the behaviour and welfare of domestic cats, shelter animals, and animals that live on urban streets.
Outside of work, Parizad enjoys reading, knitting, watching live sports, reciting ‘90s Indian television ads from memory, and making the best (or worst, depending on your perspective!) puns you’ll ever hear!
Dr Émilie Crossley: Volunteer Communications Officer: Public Engagement
Émilie is a Researcher at the Center for Advanced Tourism Studies (CATS) at Hokkaido University in Japan. In 2022, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), which explored human–animal interactions in tourism contexts. This research provided insight into a range of unusual animal-based tourism phenomena, including fox selfies, cat islands and pig cafés.
Émilie has a passion for communicating research to diverse audiences through writing, teaching, and outreach work in schools. Her research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals and academic books. She also has a professional background in communications, having worked in student recruitment in New Zealand and, more recently, as an academic copy editor.
In her free time, Émilie enjoys learning Japanese, reading, birdwatching, travelling, dog-sitting for her neighbours, and spending time at home with her two senior cats.
Dr Lori Hoy: Volunteer Communications Officer: Membership
Lori recently completed her doctorate degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management at the University of Surrey. Her thesis, which delved into the various factors impacting dog guardians’ leisure and tourism decisions, focused on human behaviour, human-animal interaction, well-being, communication, and service innovation.
Lori has worked in marketing and communications for over 20 years in various industries including advertising, consumer products, corporate litigation, recruitment, and hospitality. In these roles, she gained extensive B2B and B2C marketing experience with a focus on marketing strategy, brand campaigns, and tactical initiatives to achieve commercial objectives.
Lori is passionate about fostering positive human-dog interactions and advancing our understanding of how to improve well-being and services offered for both species. She enjoys spending her free time walking and travelling with her rescue dog, Princess Buttercup, who continues to inspire her research interests in dogs in the leisure and tourism experience.
Julia Stewart: Administrator
Julia joined SCAS as a part-time administrator in July 2023. She has an equine background, qualified and working within industry and education. She currently works for SRUC as an Equine Lecturer and VetSkill as an Executive Support Officer.
Julia has three horses and her dog Jack at home that she enjoys spending her time with, including training towards show-jumping and dressage competitions with her horses. As she’s aware of how much her own animals mean to her in her daily life, she has a keen interest in animal welfare alongside the human-animal bond and the difference that animals make to people.