Human-animal relationship research group
In the Human-Animal Relationship Research Group, researchers from different disciplines and specialist areas work together on various issues relating to people's personal relationships with their pets and animal-assisted interventions in various fields of practice.
The research group was founded in 2004 at the Institute of Social Pedagogy, Social Work and Welfare Science at TU Dresden and has since carried out projects with various objectives and in a wide variety of organizational forms - from student diploma or master's thesis projects to teaching research seminars and large-scale third-party funded projects(Completed Projects and Ongoing Projects). Central to all projects is the successful collaboration between colleagues from various disciplines (including social pedagogy, medicine, psychology) and stakeholders from practice and research.
Research questions of the projects in recent years have been, for example
- Do pets play a special role in the lives of children and young people with high levels of psychological stress?
- Do residents of retirement homes benefit from spending time with llamas, guinea pigs, cats and other animals on a daily basis?
- How does a targeted and structured dog-assisted intervention program affect the well-being, social behaviour and motivation for therapy of men and women in prisons?
- What special effects does contact with animals have for people with dementia?
- Can participation in a dog-assisted intervention program have a positive effect on the well-being and social skills of young people with high mental health problems in residential care? What are the conditions for success and barriers to animal-assisted interventions in residential youth care?
The research group originated at the TU Dresden, but has developed nationally in recent years and now brings together various colleagues and cooperating institutions from Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig and other cities(ongoing projects and members).
Contact:
(Contact details of the individual members of the research group can be found here Members)
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Latest news
Movie premiere
Not without my animals
Premiere of the film "Not without my animals" on 28.11.24 at 19:45 at Moviemento in Berlin-Kreuzberg
A film project by Michael Christian Schulze (idea and book) and Volker Meyer-Dabisch (director)
Click here for the trailer: "Not without my animals" (Trailer)
Premiere location: Moviemento Berlin To the cinema
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Free online course
An online course on dog-assisted interventions in youth welfare was developed in 2023 as part of the project "TGI-MOOC - Teaching animal-assisted skills digitally", in which the Human-Animal Relationship Research Group at TU Dresden was involved as a cooperation partner(Completed projects). The course has been available free of charge to all interested parties since January 2024: More about the course on the BTI website.
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Obituary
Frans de Waal - one of the best-known and most influential primatologists and behavioral scientists of our time - passed away in March 2024. All those who deal with humans and animals and with the relationship between humans and animals owe him a great debt of gratitude for his groundbreaking research and findings (e.g. in particular on cognitive, conative and emotional animal potentials and competencies) and his convincing theoretical analyses of the underlying biological, psychological and social conditioning factors. Frans de Waal has not only had a decisive influence on behavioral biology and behavioral research, but also indirectly on research into the human-animal relationship and has made pioneering progress.
Selected books by Frans de Waal:
- The Difference. What we can learn about gender from primates (2022).
- Mom's last hug. The emotions of animals and what they say about us (2020).
- Humans, bonobos and the ten commandments. Morality is older than religion (2015).
- The ape in us. Why we are the way we are (2006).
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New publications
Wesenberg, Sandra; Betzelt, Sigrid; Bredereck, Conny; de Andrade, Marilena; Eckloff, Annett; Gather, Claudia; Lanwehr, Joana; Martikke, Svenja; Gahleitner, Silke (2022): Animal-assisted interventions in therapeutic youth residential groups. Results of an interdisciplinary practical research project in residential youth care. ZKS publishing house for psychosocial media.
Enxing, Julia; Horstmann, Simone; Taxacher, Georg (eds.) (2022): Animate Theologies. An (im)possible project? animate theologies vol. 1. wbg Academics.
Wesenberg, Sandra (2020): Animals in social work. Human-animal relationships and animal-assisted interventions. Kohlhammer.
