Veterinarian specializing in animal husbandry and animal welfare

Veterinarian specializing in behavioral science

Areas of work and research

Human-animal relationship, with a focus on farm animals

Behavior and husbandry of ruminants

Assessment of animal welfare at system and practice level

Ontogenesis, social behavior, individuality and stress

non-invasive methods of assessing well-being

sustainable animal husbandry systems for cattle and goats

Research projects

Ongoing research projects

Completed research projects

• Effect of the early social environment on welfare and later challenge responses in dairy cattle PhD project as part of the BIOREC doctoral college
• Structuring of the free lying areas in loose stalls with dairy cows (BMG, Dreiklang Foundation, Mahle Foundation, VierPfoten, Stihl Foundation, Graf Fabrice von Gundlach and Payne Smith Foundation)
• Effect of the early social environment on welfare and later challenge responses in dairy cattle PhD project as part of the BIOREC doctoral college
• Structuring of the free lying areas in loose stalls with dairy cows (BMG, Dreiklang Foundation, Mahle Foundation, VierPfoten, Stihl Foundation, Graf Fabrice von Gundlach and Payne Smith Foundation)
• Completed research projects
• Keeping horned and hornless dairy goats in large groups BMG, BMLFUW Project 100191
• Study on the improved methods for animal-friendly production, in particular on alternatives to the castration of pigs and on alternatives to the dehorning of cattle as a partner in subproject 2 Dehorning of cattle, SANCO / D5 / 2008 / SI2.517191
• Integration of animal welfare in the food quality chain: from public concern to improved welfare and transparent quality, IP-Project WelfareQuality, in the sub-projects: (1) Minimizing handling Stress - Dairy cattle / Poultry (2) Development of an on farm welfare assessment tool (dairy cows / poultry), EU
• Analysis of the influencing factors on animal welfare, animal health and performance of dairy cows in loose stalls in conventional and organic farms with special consideration of the human-animal relationship BMLFUW Project 1267
• Influence of an automatic milking system (AMS) on behavior, physiology and health of dairy cows BMLFUW Project 1206 sub
• Ethological studies to review a questionnaire on farmers' attitudes towards cows and to analyze human-animal interactions (Fund 200 Years of Veterinary Medicine)
• The importance of human-animal interactions for physiological and ethological stress reactions of dairy cows during veterinary measures
• Coping strategies of cows taking into account social ties FWF P13585-Bio
• Assessment of a feed fence for animal welfare

Management and supervision of scientific work, dissertations, diploma theses, master theses

Degrees and specialization

• 1988 Veterinary license (LMU-Munich)
• 1990 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (University of Zurich): Dissertation "Purification and partial characterization of lysozyme and antibacterial proteins from neutrophilic granulocytes from horses"
• 1996 State examination for the official veterinary service, Bavaria, Germany
• 1997 veterinarian for animal husbandry and animal welfare
• 2004 habilitation in applied ethology, animal husbandry and animal welfare; Title: "Human-animal relationship and stockmanship: the significance for dairy cow welfare and aspects of on farm assessment"

Curr. Vitae

Awards / research stays

other activities

• 2000/2001 NAHWOA - Network of Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture
• COST 846 Measuring and Monitoring Animal Welfare
• Representative for Austria in the Management Committee and the two working groups 1 (Measuring) and 2 (On farm monitoring);
• 2001 Head of the subgroup "Selection and standardization of parameters"
• 2002 member of the subgroup "Parameters for welfare assessment in cattle"
• Head of the task force "Measuring human-animal interaction"
• Veterinary Examination Commission "Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare" of the Austrian Federal Veterinary Association; Deputy Chair
• International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE), Regional Secretary West-Central Europe 2001 - 2004
• Society for ecological animal husbandry (GÖT), member of the working group "Further development of the TGI 200" 1997-2003
• Austrian Society of Veterinarians (ÖGT) Deputy Chairwoman of the Animal Husbandry and Welfare Section, 1999 - 2009
• Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare (TVT), Working Group 1 “Farm Animals” Member since 1997
• Association for Research into Animal Welfare (VEAT), chairman since 1996
• Various expert activities, including in the working group "Dairy Cow Health and Welfare" of the European Food Safety Authority 2007 to 2009
• Review activities for international scientific journals (e.g. Animal, Applied Animal Behavior Science, Journal of Dairy Science) and organizations
• Section Editor Animal Welfare and Housing for Livestock Science since 2011