Judith Benz-Schwarzburg
Senior Researcher in Animal Cognition and Ethics
Judith Benz-Schwarzburg is a Senior Researcher at the Messerli Research Institute (Vetmeduni Vienna, University Vienna, Meduni Vienna), working at the intersection of animal cognition and animal ethics. From 2018-2024 she was head of a FWF-funded research group on Morality in Animals: What it Means and Why it Matters. She has also worked on culture, language and theory of mind in animals, on zoo ethics, wildlife-tourism, and a range of other topics like animals in contemporary arts, personhood in great apes, and the role of animals in picture books. Her dissertation has been published by Brill in English under the title "Cognitive Kin, Moral Strangers? Linking Animal Cognition, Animal Ethics & Animal Welfare". (Copyright of the Photo: David Ausserhofer/Körber Stiftung).