Do you have a way with words and experience with web design and web-based communications? Are you passionate about the relationships between people and animals? Are you looking to gain experience and broaden your CV? If so, the Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) has the perfect opportunity for you! We are looking for two Volunteer Communications Officers to help us deliver our ambitious communications plan through development of the SCAS website. This role will give you the opportunity to learn about the creative process of developing web-based science content, its promotion and management, through guidance and practical experience. You will help the SCAS communications team to maintain the organisation’s high profile with positive and trusted communications which engage current and potential future members as well as the wider public looking for information about Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI). We anticipate this will take approximately 4-8 hours a week, worked flexibly from home.

To apply, or for further information, please send your CV and a cover letter to Victoria Turner, SCAS Administrator, by email to info@scas.org.uk, with the header: “Comms Officer Application”.

The closing date for applications is 30 April 2025. 

Download the full role descriptions here:

• Comms Officer Generic role: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u9Ycnt5IA8fJ_Y7dH-4jrHVfrrryQMih/view?usp=drive_link
• Comms Officer Membership focused role: https://drive.google.com/file/d/188lOHLNGaHIos65NDmcFqyciDq6kmop5/view?usp=drive_link

SCAS-funded research from the 2022 funding round is now published in Disability and Rehabilitation. Congrats to Joanna Foster, Danielle Stephens-Lewis, and Kimberley C. Schenke for their paper “Profiling hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS): factors in health and wellbeing with chronic conditions and opportunities for improving self-management”!

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638288.2025.2458187

Florina Hica, Master’s student from University of Agricultural Studies and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Attending a conference with all my companion animals is a rare opportunity. But this happened last October when I was fortunate enough to participate in the Society of Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) annual conference.

Since this was a virtual event, I sat in front of my computer in the morning and one cat promptly jumped on my lap, another took up a position on the desk, and my dog curled up on the armchair behind me. I’m sure there’s no better way to learn new things about the human-animal bond than this!

Leading human and animal welfare organisations have called on MPs to support policies that recognise the positive impact of the human-companion animal bond on mental and physical wellbeing. The issue was highlighted at a parliamentary event attended by 39 MPs last month (21 Jan 2025). The drop-in session at Westminster was hosted by vets Dr Marc Abraham OBE, Dr Belinda ‘Bin’ Johnston, founder of Our Special Friends (OSF), and Dr Elizabeth Ormerod, Chair of the Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS). The session, jointly organised by OSF and SCAS, featured presentations from organisations that promote the welfare of both people and dogs through structured animal-assisted interactions. Read more in this article published in DogsToday magazine.

To learn more about the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) and how you can get involved, visit their official website.

The 2024 Bob Harvey Award goes to the Interspecies Home Care and Interspecies Team of the Street of Samaritans Foundation in Cali, Colombia.