Priv.-Doz. Dr. Zsófia Virányi

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Zsófia Virányi

Senior Scientist Clever Dog Lab, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

 

Zsófia Virányi is Senior Researcher at the Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria. She studied biology, gained her PhD in 2004 on animal behaviour and habilitated in 2021 on animal behaviour, cognition and human-animal interactions. As a founder of the Clever Dog Lab and the Wolf Science Center, Zsófia has conducted most of her research on dogs and wolves, in order to study the effects of domestication on dogs’ reasoning and social learning abilities, communication and cooperation with humans and conspecifics. Deeply interested in how human and non-human animals differ and compare to each other, she has been comparing canine cognition to children, primates and, most recently, to pigs. On the practical side, Zsófia has experiences with dog and wolf training, animal-assisted therapy and service dog training. 

 

Topic 1 - City dogs: Microbiome sharing between dogs and humans; Where to walk your dog? – Impulsivity in green and in built environments

Topic 2 - Cooperative wolves, deferential dogs

Topic 3 - Human and conspecific fellows: How do relationships compare?; From tense to supportive owner relationships