Dr. Anne McBride is a Senior Lecturer in Human-Animal Interactions and Animal Behaviour at the University of Southampton. She is also a practicing animal behavior therapist and from 1999 to 2009 was a head clinician at the Animal Behaviour Clinic at the University of Southampton. Between 1995 and 2002, McBride co-founded HOPE (Homeless Owners with Pets project), later subsumed under the National Canine Defence League (now Dogs Trust). She was a member of the advisory panel for the production of the 'Canine Code for Kids', of the executive committee of SCAS (Society for Companion Animal Behaviour Studies), and of the British Veterinary Behaviour Association. Between 2000 and 2013, McBride has been awarded a number of honorary positions, including Honorary Member of The Canine Training and Behaviour Society; Honorary Member of the British Veterinary Nursing Association; Honorary member of the Italian Veterinary Behaviour Association; Honorary member of the UK Registry of Canine Behaviourists; Honorary Teacher at the University of Bristol Veterinary School; Honorary Fellow of Myerscough College, University of Central Lancashire; Honorary Secretary of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors. She is currently a Member of the Companion Animal Welfare Council and Chair of the Programme Recognition Committee of the Animal Behaviour and Training Council. She is Deputy Chairperson of PATHWAY - a working party looking at pets and housing issues in the UK. She is a patron of the Rabbit Welfare Association. McBride lectures nationally and internationally, on various aspects of animal behavior and the human-animal bond. Her passion is to increase our understanding of what animals need, how we perceive them and interact with them, be they pets, farm, laboratory or living in the wild so that we can improve animal welfare, reduce animal-related injury to people and ensure a sustainable future world for both humans and animals.

Title: Thinking Aloud: Animals as Technology, Technology ‘for’ Animals, Technology as Animals and Back Again
Abstract: Human-animal interactions occur in a range of settings with animals being used for various purposes; as labor, companions, producers of food, data, and entertainment, as 'co-therapists', and as co-habitants of the planet. Throughout our own development, we have used technology to further our understanding of how animals ‘work’; i.e. function as physiological and/or behavioral entities. These may have involved direct or indirect interactions between the animals and the technology. We have applied this knowledge and associated technological advances to improve how animals perform in their captive functional roles and to improve how we control (or preserve) them in the wild.  Latterly, in some cases, technology has been used to assess and provide for their needs, aiming to improve their quality of life in captive environments and in the wild in terms of conservation. This keynote will take a long view of how humans have used technological advances in their relationships with animals. Reasons why these may or may not have had benefits for either the humans or non-humans involved, regardless of human intention, will be posited.  This will involve brief consideration of why humans keep animals and some of the factors that influence how we may regard and thus interact with them, directly or indirectly. Finally, the discussion will briefly turn to the potential for benefits from computer/information technology and, also, the potential for pitfalls in the road ahead. It is concluded that steps may need to be taken to put in place means by which these can be prevented or circumnavigated, and some suggestions are made, such as revisiting what is meant by ethical standards in pure and applied research in this field.


CLOSING KEYNOTE - Ádám Miklósi