Dr. Alina Rusu (biologist and psychologist) is currently Professor in the Department of Fundamental Sciences, Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca (USAMV Cluj-Napoca) and Fulbright Ambassador for the Romanian Academic Environment. She is the academic coordinator of the recently founded master’s degree program in Romania, i.e. Ethology & Human-Animal Interaction. Her professional and research interests are: humane education, interdisciplinary curricular development, applied values of human-animal interactions, evolutionary psychology and the multidimensional study of community-oriented volunteering. She teaches “Animal Psychology” (Bachelor level) and the following subjects at master’s level: “Animal Cognition and Consciousness”, “Animal-Assisted Therapy and Activities”, “Human Ethology”, “Animals in Society & Humane Education” and “Self-care in Animal-oriented professionals”. She is also a PhD coordinator in Sciences of Education.

Dr. Rusu received her PhD in Natural Sciences (Animal Behavior) from University of Zurich in 2004, with a Fellowship awarded by Swiss National Fond. After her PhD, she had the opportunity to successfully apply for a Reintegration Grant for Young Researchers funded by the Romanian National Council for Research in Higher Education (2005-2007). Since 2007 to present, she was the director of several research grants funded by national and international agencies, most of them based on interdisciplinary approaches, i.e. applied animal behavior, evolutionary psychology and animal-assisted services. The outcomes of these research projects, including those resulted from the successful coordination of several PhD theses in the field of Psychology, are reflected in her publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conferences proceedings.

She is a long-term collaborator with Dr. Dennis C. Turner, the former president of IAHAIO, with whom she co-authored several scientific studies. Dr. Turner is one of the official international collaborators of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, being awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in April 2023. She is currently part of the IAHAIO working group on the elaboration of research standards in AAS. In her teaching and research, she is promoting for many years the IAHAIO guidelines and standards of good practices.