Erhard Olbrich Award for Karoline Gerwisch

In her work, Karoline Gerwisch investigated how PTSD assistance dogs support their handlers in everyday life and whether the animals experience stress as a result of their duties. To this end, she surveyed handlers in Austria and Germany about their quality of life. In addition, she compared the salivary cortisol levels of PTSD assistance dogs with those of pet dogs and diabetic alert dogs.

The findings show that support from an assistance dog can help people with PTSD improve their quality of life. At the same time, new social challenges may arise in everyday situations. The assistance dogs studied had lower cortisol levels than the dogs in the comparison groups. The study suggests that a strong relationship between dog and handler can reduce stress for both. Appropriate training for the dogs plays an important role in this regard. The study, “A pilot study into the effects of PTSD-assistance dogs' work on their salivary cortisol levels and their handlers' Quality of life,” was published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.

Karoline Gerwisch initially studied primary school education at the University College of Teacher Education Vienna, followed by educational science at the University of Vienna. From 2019 to 2022, she also completed the Human-Animal Interactions degree programme at the Messerli Research Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Gerwisch is currently pursuing a PhD in cognition and applied ethology at the institute under the supervision of Ludwig Huber, Zsofia Virányi and Stefanie Höhl. As part of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)-funded project “Overimitation in Dogs,” she investigates social learning in dogs. In addition, Karoline Gerwisch works as an animal-welfare-certified dog trainer and assesses therapy support dogs and assistance dogs.

Vetmeduni Austria congratulates her warmly!

Note: The Erhard Olbrich Award honours outstanding work on human–animal relationships by early-career researchers. The award carries a total prize fund of EUR 4,000 and was established by the Research Association for Companion Animals in Society on the tenth anniversary of the death of psychologist and anthrozoology pioneer Professor Erhard Olbrich. It recognises research ranging from basic science to studies on animal-assisted interventions and is open to researchers up to the age of 35.