Dr. Richard Griffioen

Position: Professor
Professorship: Animal Assisted Interventions
Email: r.griffioen@aeres.nl

Richard Griffioen is an experienced health professional, coach and trainer. In the past, he worked for Medical Center IBIS and The Human Academy. In 1997, he founded Stichting SAM, a foundation for animal assisted interventions, and began his research on the development of children with Down syndrome and autism. This resulted in a doctoral project at the Open University in 2015, which he successfully completed in 2020.

Richard is the cofounder of the health farm Het Boerenparadijs (2011-2017), where daily activities were provided to children with a handicap. From 2013 to 2016, he was a member of the board (including the position of chairman) of Animal Assisted Interventions in Healthcare, Education and Research (AAIZOO). At present, he is still associated with this organisation as an adviser. Since 2020, he is a member of the board of the worldwide umbrella organisation IAHAIO, the International Association of Human Animal Interaction Organizations. On 1 April 2021, he became associated with Aeres University of Applied Sciences as the professor of Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI). He conducts research on the effects of AAI on various populations and focuses not only on the welfare of the human beings involved, but on that of the animals as well (One Health).