Claudia Maureen Vinke is a behavioral biologist. After her biology studies in 1992, she worked at Utrecht University on the development of an aggression test in dogs at the Beta Faculty, department of ethology and socio-ecology. From 1993-1996 she worked at the University of Leiden, Faculty of Law, Special Criminal Law, on a study into the legal and illegal organizational structures of the exotic animal trade in the Netherlands, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Since 1996 she has worked as a scientific assistant at the Department of Animal Science and Society at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, first as a junior lecturer and later as a senior lecturer/researcher. Here she completed various projects related to animal welfare and she completed her dissertation in 2004. Since 2002 she also works in the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for behavioral problems in dogs and cats.
Animal welfare, behavior and development of behavioral problems in animals, are her research focus and her studies are always focused on socially relevant topics related to animal welfare and aimed at practical solutions.