Rita Seery is currently a PhD candidate at Queen’s University Belfast with a research interest in the Horse–Human Bond. She graduated with a BSc in Equine Science from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1998, having spent all her childhood and early adulthood working and being around horses. She spent several years working in the horse industry before changing career path entirely. However, her passion and interest in horses and horse welfare continued. Having identified a need for enhancing the education of new horse owners, she set up a horse care course in collaboration with the USPCA which ran for many years. More recently, Rita attained an MSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare before commencing her PhD studies. Her current research focuses on practitioner and service users perspectives of Equine Assisted Services in order to explore the different ways horses may help people, in addition to gaining a better understanding of the greater Equine Assisted Service sector.

Lisa Graham-Wisener is a Reader in Health Psychology in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). She graduated from QUB with a BSc Psychology (hons) in 2010, and then a PhD in health psychology in 2018 which examined psychological adjustment in oesophageal cancer survivors and carers. She worked as the Research Lead at Marie Curie Hospice Belfast from 2015–2018. She then joined the School of Psychology at QUB as a Lecturer in September 2018, and was promoted to Reader in August 2024. Her research interests are broadly in the assessment and management of psychological wellbeing and quality of life in chronic conditions, where she has published >45 articles in peer-reviewed journals. She largely works in the area of psycho-oncology and palliative and end-of-life care, in addition to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Deborah L. Wells graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1992 with a first class Honours degree in Psychology. She went on to pursue a PhD in QUB on the welfare of kennelled dogs, graduating with her Doctorate in 1996. After several years of post-doc research, She was appointed to a lectureship in Animal Welfare in 1999. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2004 and to Reader in 2013. Her research concentrates on animal behaviour and welfare, with a particular focus on the domestic dog. Much of her work has been concerned with exploring the welfare of animals housed in captivity (e.g., zoos, rescue kennels) and finding ways of improving psychological well-being through the implementation of novel and scientifically tested enrichment strategies. Other research areas include pets and human health, behaviour problems in companion animals and, more recently, laterality in animals. She has taught at all years of the UG pathway during her time at Queen’s, in the form of lectures, tutorials and thesis supervision. This teaching largely centres around mainsteam psychology, with more specialised, research-driven teaching on a 3rd year Animal Behaviour module. At Masters level, She is involved in thesis supervision.