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 and PhD coordinator in Sciences of Education.

Her professional and research interests are: animal behavior, humane education, interdisciplinary curricular development, applied values of human-animal interactions, evolutionary psychology and the multidimensional study of service-learning in Higher Education. She teaches “Animal Psychology” (Bachelor level) and various 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”. In her teaching and research in the field of huma-animal interactions, she is promoting for many years the IAHAIO guidelines and standards of good practices. Her list of publications includes over 70 research papers, as well as book chapters covering various topics related to HAI.

Dr. Rusu received her PhD in Natural Sciences (Animal Behavior) from University of Zurich in 2004. She is a long-term collaborator with Dr. Dennis C. Turner, the former president of IAHAIO, who 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. Dr. Rusu is of the IAHAIO working group on the elaboration of research standards in AAS.