The second training school of the WG2 was held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from April 20–21, 2026. This two-day event focused on “Communication about animal affect in educational contexts: Co-learning through multiple perspectives.” Attendees participated in informative, interactive lectures tackling complex and sensitive communication topics across diverse fields—including ethology, philosophy, veterinary medicine, psychology, and animal-assisted education. Through hands-on activities, participants gained practical tools to improve their communication skills and successfully expanded their scientific networks.
Following the training school, WG2 leads met for a 24-hour session in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to review current progress and plan future directions. Building on the joint WG1/WG2 online meeting from March 18, 2026, the session focused on inter-WG collaboration, future sub-WG planning, and long-term project sustainability beyond the COST action. Moving forward, the working group will prioritize organizing more joint online meetings with other groups to enhance collaboration. The leads will also actively explore external research grant opportunities to complement COST networking, despite the known challenges of securing funding in this specific field. Additionally, a new list of follow-up research questions will be presented to the wider working group to gauge interest in forming or leading new sub-working groups.
Finally, expectations and support structures will be clearly defined so members can confidently assess whether they can take on these future leadership roles.
