Mariann Molnar
About
Mariann was born with a passion for animals and the natural environment. As a young child, she would frequently and fearlessly interact with animals, giving her a lot of first-hand experience with how animals communicate and express their emotions and needs. She spent her teens reading about the subject and has been greatly influenced by the works of Dian Fossey, George Adamson, Konrad Lorenz, Gerald Durrell, David Attenborough, and James Herriot, inspiring her to live a life devoted to animals.
Mariann holds a BSc Hon. in zoology from the University of Reading, and an MSc in environmental sciences and policy from the Central European University. She first worked as an animal welfare advocate on wild, captive wild and farm animals in the European Union (RSPCA International, Eurogroup for Animals), striving to assist new Member States to understand and observe EU standards. She then worked as a senior animal welfare advisor in the Ministry of Rural Development (Budapest, Hungary), supporting science-driven decision-making processes. These years of advocacy work and civil service have given her a deep insight into the difficulties associated with conflicting interests between humans and animals, and compromised animal welfare reform-efforts. She returned to the Central European University to complete her PhD in an in-depth analysis of the EU farm animal welfare reform-effort, studied through a case study of confinement and alternative pig farming in Hungary.
While Mariann is based in Budapest, Hungary, she is closely associated with the UBC Animal Welfare Program. Mariann’s research interests include the currently evolving EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork Initiatives, and the assessment of the true impacts of political, socioeconomic, and legislative reforms on animal farming and farm animal welfare. Her work attempts to generate empirical data in understudied areas, aiming to facilitate a better transition to sustainable and animal welfare-friendly farming practices and more ethical human-animal interactions. Mariann also supports the emerging farm animal welfare-related efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Europe and Central Asia.
Mariann is currently working on a project to explore how the quality of care that farmers provide to their animals is influenced by the actions of the large companies that buy their animals and the companies that produce the breeding stock. Hungary provides a unique opportunity for this research because the country, after joining the European Union, is transitioning rapidly from more traditional farming towards large-scale intensive farming methods. The study aims to understand the pressures that push farming to make this transition. Data will support a better understanding of how the market could contribute positively to increased farmer resilience, higher on-farm animal welfare conditions and a possible transition away from confinement farming methods.”
Education
B.Sc. Honours (University of Reading, UK)
M.Sc. Environmental Sciences and Policy (Central European University, Hungary)
Ph.D. Environmental Sciences and Policy (Central European University, Hungary)