Experts Join Together for International Dialogue on the Human-Animal Bond

July 2, 2021

A silhouette of a dog putting its paw on a woman's outstretched hand as they sit in the grass against a sunrise sky

Registration is now available for the 2021 Centers for the Human-Animal Bond Conference hosted by the Purdue University Center for the Human-Animal Bond. The virtual conference scheduled for November 4-5 will bring together a diverse set of national and international academic human-animal interaction centers and institutes for a global, interdisciplinary conversation focused on advancement in this field.

The Centers for the Human-Animal Bond (CHAB) Conference first was hosted in 2006, and in 2016 a 10-year follow-up conference continued the conversation. Both of these previous conferences resulted in special issues in peer-reviewed journals (2008 in JVME and 2018 in HAIB), and this year’s conference will seek to continue this legacy.

The 2021 CHAB Conference will provide a critical opportunity to bring together a diverse set of national and international academic Human-Animal Interaction centers and institutes. When discussing the significance of the conference, Purdue Veterinary Medicine Associate Professor of Human-Animal Interaction Maggie O’Haire stated, “The conference will serve as a platform for interdisciplinary conversation with substantial opportunities for the exchange and discussion of new ideas for future research on animal assisted interventions and additional dimensions of the human-animal bond”. Dr. O’Haire went on to say that the periodic and structured dialogue and coordination by multi-disciplinary and geographically diverse human-animal interaction centers are critical to accelerating the advancement of the field and collaboration across disciplines, leading to further understanding of the physiological, psychological, and cultural implications of the human-animal bond.

The first day of the conference is free and open to the public and will include a plenary speaker and panel discussion in the morning, a “lunch and learn” with center directors during the lunch hour, followed by another panel discussion and plenary speaker in the afternoon. During the lunch and learn, representatives from world-class centers and institutions from around the globe will provide an overview of their organization and the work they are accomplishing. Registration for November 4 is currently available.

The second day of the conference will consist of closed sessions for invited leaders in the field of human-animal interaction.

The conference is able to offer a day with free registration open to the public thanks to generous sponsorships from the Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Mars Petcare. Additional support for the conference is provided by the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Center for the Human-Animal Bond and the University’s Office of the Provost.

Writer(s): Ben Shepard | pvmnews@purdue.edu

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