IAHAIO: the international standard for human–animal interaction
The International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations is a global association that sets the language, ethics, and practice standards for the field of Human-Animal Interaction.
What is IAHAIO?
IAHAIO (International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations) is the leading international association of organizations engaged in practice, research, and education in Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and animal-assisted services (AAS)—therapy, education, and support programs involving animals.
According to the association itself, the network includes more than a hundred multidisciplinary organizations and professional bodies worldwide—from academic centers to frontline practice teams. This allows IAHAIO to serve as an umbrella for the HAI field: establishing shared language, publishing declarations and standards, and hosting conferences and webinars.
Official website: iahaio.org.
Mission and goals
IAHAIO’s mission is to provide international leadership in advancing the field of Human-Animal Interaction through research, education, and collaboration among association members, policymakers, practitioners, and the wider public.
The association’s key goals include:
- promoting new research, education, and the development of practice;
- creating a platform for exchanging ideas and building collaborations;
- informing decision-makers about the benefits of HAI and AAS at national and international levels.
Among its tools are international conferences, a webinar series, an annual general meeting, declarations and position papers, and the open-access peer-reviewed journal People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice (PAIJ).
A brief history
Even before the association was formally registered, international meetings on HAI took place in London (1977), Philadelphia (1980), Vienna (1983), Boston (1986), and Monaco (1989).
In 1990, in Toronto, representatives from organizations in France, the United States, Australia, Canada, Austria, and the United Kingdom decided to formalize years of collaboration as an association; an organization from South Africa also supported the initiative. IAHAIO was legally registered as a nonprofit NGO in Washington State (USA) in 1992. Dr. Sam Ahmedzai (SCAS, UK) became the first president, and Linda Hines (Delta Society, USA) served as secretary.
Subsequent conferences were held under IAHAIO’s auspices in Montreal, Geneva, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Glasgow, Tokyo, Stockholm, Chicago, Paris, and at later gatherings.
Declarations that shaped the field
Before each conference, the IAHAIO board prepares declarations that are then adopted by the general assembly. They provide guidance for association members and policymakers.
Geneva Declaration (1995)
Recognizes the universal right to own a companion animal with proper care, calls for the needs of animals and owners to be considered in environmental planning, supports the presence of animals in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes, and advocates official recognition of animals specially trained to assist people with disabilities.
Tokyo Declaration (2007)
“It is a universal, natural, and basic human right to benefit from the presence of animals” — IAHAIO Tokyo Declaration, 2007
The declaration calls for pet-inclusive housing policy, access for specially selected animals in healthcare settings, recognition of AAS professionals, and the inclusion of animals in educational programs (in the spirit of the Rio Declaration on Pets in Schools).
Chicago Declaration (2013)
IAHAIO members embrace the One Health concept: the health of people, animals, and the environment are inseparably linked. Companion animals are a key element of One Health through the documented human–animal bond, service/assistance animals, and shared knowledge about disease. The declaration calls for interprofessional collaboration, AAS programs, responsible animal-keeping policies, and animal welfare standards that account for sentience.
The field has increasingly also drawn on the related framework of One Welfare—the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental well-being.
White Paper and AAS terminology
The IAHAIO White Paper (2014, with updates in subsequent years) defines terms and ethical frameworks for animal-assisted interventions / animal-assisted services. In the association’s current terminology, AAS includes:
- AATx — animal-assisted treatment (therapeutic interventions);
- AAE — animal-assisted education;
- AASP — animal-assisted support programs (support programs / AAA).
Importantly, the animal is not a “tool” but a participant in the process; the well-being of both people and animals must be considered together.
Minimum standards for research (2025)
In December 2025, IAHAIO published the position paper Minimum standards for research involving people and/or animals in the field of AAS, HAI and/or HAB. The document was prepared by an international working group (51 participants) and a small subgroup of authors led by board members Joni Delanoeije and Karin Hediger.
The standards are needed because:
- research quality and terminology vary widely;
- an excessive focus on RCTs alone excludes valuable practice-based approaches;
- animal welfare has too often been peripheral;
- disciplinary fragmentation slows the translation of knowledge into practice.
Core principles include: design matched to the research question; ethics and One Welfare; multidisciplinary expertise; and transparency with open dissemination of results. On 21 January 2026, the authors presented the standards in a webinar—recording and a structured summary of key points are available in the Video & transcript tab.
Why this matters for CIZ
The Center for Integrative Zoopsychology works with the human–dog dyad as a single system. IAHAIO’s language—HAI, AAS, One Health / One Welfare, research and ethics standards—helps connect our practice to an international evidence base: not “training at any cost,” but building mutual well-being grounded in science and ethics.
Transcript
1. Introduction and context
The webinar opens with a presentation of IAHAIO’s new minimum research standards in the fields of Animal-Assisted Services (AAS), Human-Animal Interaction (HAI), and Human-Animal Bond (HAB). The document is positioned as an international baseline: an ethical and methodological “floor” that is flexible and evolving, with the well-being of both people and animals as the priority.
The standards are the result of collaboration since 2023: an international call, a group of 51 participants, a small working subgroup (SWG) of seven authors, a workshop at the conference in Romania (2024), a presentation in Amsterdam (2025), and publication in December 2025. On 21 January 2026, the authors walk the community through the document in detail.
2. Why standards are needed
The authors identify four systemic challenges in the field:
- incomparable studies due to inconsistent terminology and quality;
- overvaluation of RCTs as the only “correct” design—at the expense of innovative and practice-based work;
- insufficient attention to animal welfare;
- disciplinary fragmentation, which slows the transfer of knowledge to practice and policy.
The goal of the standards is to strengthen ethical safeguards, quality, transparency, and reproducibility; interdisciplinary collaboration; and access to funding and policy relevance.
3. Who the document is for
The audience is broad:
- researchers designing and publishing studies;
- practitioners and educators integrating research into programs;
- students;
- journal editors and reviewers;
- institutions, funders, and ethics committees;
- policymakers and regulators.
4. What makes the approach distinctive
IAHAIO’s standards stand out because they:
- address both people and animals simultaneously (not only human outcomes);
- were co-created by an international network of partners;
- treat academia, practice, and education as equal domains;
- are grounded in the One Welfare framework: human, animal, and environmental well-being are interdependent.
Good AAS research is impossible if the AAS practice itself is unsafe or ethically compromised: otherwise data will be biased and participants will be at risk.
5. Key principles
Design and methodology. The method must fit the question (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed). RCTs are valuable but not the only valid standard. Protocols should be complete, transparent, and preregistered when appropriate.
Ethics and welfare. For people: informed consent, confidentiality, the right to withdraw, and protection of vulnerable groups. For animals: continuous welfare monitoring, choice and control, and suitability for participation.
Collaboration and expertise. Teams should be multidisciplinary: human health/well-being, animal welfare/behavior, and research design. Qualifications and training are required.
Transparency and dissemination. Openly report methods, limitations, and negative results; ensure reproducibility; communicate findings to scientific, practice, and public communities—preferably via open access.
6. Research lifecycle
The document walks through planning and execution stages:
- concept and funding;
- design and protocol development;
- data collection, processing, analysis, and writing;
- reflection and dissemination of results.
At each stage, the interests of all participants—people, animals, and the environment—must be explicitly considered and recorded in the protocol.
7. Practical and ethical requirements
Methodology. Clear questions, adequate sampling/design, attention to confounding factors, and accounting for “non-standardizable” animal behavior and diverse practice contexts.
People. Consent, privacy, harm minimization, and special measures for children, older adults, people with disabilities, and those in crisis contexts.
Animals. Selection and preparation, continuous state assessment, the right to decline interaction, workload limits, housing conditions, and welfare models (including the Five Domains). Mutual benefit—not “human benefit at any cost.”
8. Document appendices
The authors separately review the appendices, covering:
- research design and terminology;
- animal welfare models;
- risk minimization for people and animals;
- qualifications for people and requirements for animals in AAS;
- an overview of existing guidelines;
- working group membership and affiliations.
9. Terms to keep in mind
- AAS — practitioner-mediated practices with qualified animals for human well-being while ensuring animal welfare;
- HAI — human–animal interaction;
- HAB — the enduring bond between a person and an animal;
- One Welfare — the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental well-being.
10. Webinar conclusion
Adoption of the standards should raise the rigor, credibility, and applicability of AAS/HAI/HAB research, place the well-being of people and animals at the center, and strengthen the practice–education–policy link. The document is a living document: IAHAIO invites feedback (policy@iahaio.org) and further co-creation of best practices.
Download the standards: PDF on the IAHAIO website.