By Dr Elizabeth Ormerod BVMS CF, Chair, Society for Companion Animal Studies
As anyone who’s attended a SCAS Annual Conference will attest, it’s an exciting event!
There are hundreds of attendees from the world of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) — ranging from volunteers and programme providers, to renowned international pioneers at the forefront of research — all with the same goals in mind: to learn the latest advances in AAI as well as encouraging collaboration between researchers and healthcare professionals.
Personally, the annual Conference is my favourite event of the year. I love meeting with passionate advocates who are the backbone of our organisation. And hearing about the life-changing and inspiring stories of clients whose lives have been positively impacted by AAI. I love the energy of participants moved by stories of people helped to overcome incredible challenges by members of the Society for Companion Animals (SCAS). I love the milestones SCAS achieves year on year, including through our research grant awards. I love the questions from people new to AAI and HAI who want to make a big impact in their communities, as well as those healthcare staff who are seeing the positive results of human-animal interaction on clients.
Over 40 years ago now, our founders established SCAS to promote the study of human-companion animal interactions and to raise awareness of the importance of pets in society. Nowadays, the annual SCAS Conference is a conduit for great ideas from amazing people to be shared with the largest possible audience from across the globe.
International participation and renowned speakers
While COVID-19 has taken away the ability to meet in person, the pandemic has done something we didn’t expect. We now have the opportunity to invite people from all over the world to participate in a conference that maybe they couldn’t attend before because of travel time and cost restraints.
That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that the SCAS Conference will again be virtual for 2021, taking place online from 09:00 – 17:00 hrs GMT Sunday 19th September.
Our speakers at this year’s Conference are some of the world’s leading HAI and AAI “superstars” including Emeritus Professor Marie-José Enders-Slegers from the Open University, Heerlen, in the Netherlands (President of IAHAIO), and Professor Nancy R. Gee from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Please click here to see all the speakers who will be joining us this year to share their expertise on topics ranging from child-animal interactions and animal-assisted interventions, to the role of companion animals for people living with mental health problems.
So, if you work in AAI or HAI and would like to hear the latest evidence-based research from academics, supported by case studies involving three different client groups (children, older adults, and mental health), or if you’d like to know more about SCAS and our work, please be sure to visit our conference website and book a place online at http://www.scas.org.uk/2021-scas-conference/
Excited yet? I am! I look forward to “seeing” you at the SCAS Conference on 19th September!
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