Jill Steel is a former primary school teacher and lecturer in childhood practice, and is currently an early career researcher (ECR) at the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education and Sport. Jill’s interest in Reading to Dogs in schools derives in part from an interest in how children’s wellbeing supports their learning, and from many years of experience as an animal-assisted intervention volunteer in health care and educational settings. Jill was awarded the course prize for her master’s in education at the University of Glasgow during which she conducted a Reading to Dogs study, and has since explored this research more extensively during her PhD. In 2022, she was awarded an ECR award at BERA22 and a diversity, equity and inclusion award at ISAZ22.