Maria Andersson

I am a Senior Lecturer in Ethology and an Associate Professor (Docent) in Anthrozoology. A large part of my work involves teaching undergraduate students across several of the faculty’s degree programmes, including Ethology and Animal Welfare, Veterinary Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, and Agricultural Science.

I also devote part of my time to research, working on various projects primarily focusing on ethology, anthrozoology, and animal welfare.

What drives me in my work is a strong commitment to improving animal welfare. I firmly believe that, to achieve this, we need to understand not only animals’ behaviour and needs, but also human behaviour, attitudes, and the decisions we make in relation to animals.

I am involved in several research projects, both small and large. All of them have one thing in common: they explore different aspects of the relationship between animals and humans. Below are the projects I am currently working on.

1. "Encounters That Make a Difference" – Farm Animal-Assisted Interventions

This project investigates how farm animal-assisted interventions can influence people's well-being and quality of life. The research team includes PhD student Theodora Georgaka and a large group of researchers from different fields.

Funding: FORTE
Project period: 2026–2030

2. Horse-Assisted Interventions

This project explores how horses can help improve motivation and well-being among young people experiencing high levels of school absenteeism. The research team includes postdoctoral researcher Marie Eisersiö and several other collaborators.

Funding: FORTE
Project period: 2026–2028

3. Clean Cattle

This project investigates which cattle are most likely to become dirty, in which housing systems, and during which seasons these problems are most common. Another important aim is to improve the consistency of animal welfare assessments between different professional groups, including veterinarians, animal welfare inspectors, and farmers. The research team includes postdoctoral researcher Lina Elmersson and several other collaborators.

Funding: FORMAS
Project period: 2024–2026

4. The Forgotten Animals

This project aims to highlight animal husbandry practices at agricultural upper secondary schools in Sweden, with a particular focus on the use of exotic animal species in education. We investigate how these animals are kept, displayed, and handled in educational settings. The research team includes researcher Claes Anderson and several other collaborators.

Funding: Petra Lundberg Foundation
Project period: 2026–2027

Educational administration and organisation

Responsible for the development and launch of the new Bachelor's Programme in Ethology and Animal Welfare (EoD) at SLU, which started in 2005.

Director of Studies for the Ethology and Animal Welfare Programme, 2006–2009 and 2014–2016.

Member of the Programme Board at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (VH), 2006–2009 and 2014–2016.

Course coordinator for several courses, including:

Main responsibility: Anthrozoology (Year 2, EoD) and Anthrozoology in Practice (Master's level).
Shared responsibility: Advanced Agricultural Internship, Ethology and Anatomy, Ethology: Theory and Application, and Animal Production.

Supervision of bachelor's and master's theses

Supervised approximately 80 Bachelor's theses within the Ethology and Animal Welfare Programme, Animal Science Programme, and Veterinary Medicine Programme.
Supervised approximately 40 Master's theses in Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, and Biology.

Pedagogic award of the Veterinary medicine and animal science faculty. 2013. 

SLU Pedagogic Award. 2013.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry pedagogic award. 2015. 

Distinguished university teacher (Excellent lärare). 2021.