A fortnight of outreach

One key aspect of our work across research, education, and policy is outreach. By getting in front of different audiences, we can educate, foster collaborations, and share our expertise, whether this be with policymakers, scientists, students, or others in the animal welfare or science sector.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time out and about, in person and virtually, presenting to and meeting with a range of different groups. Each meeting had a different audience and purpose, but all support our goal of replacing animals in research.

Here are a few highlights from the events and meetings I’ve been a part of over the past fortnight, and how they’re helping build a future where no animal suffers for science

Educating students at Hartpury University

At the end of February, our Research Manager, Juliet, and I guest lectured virtually at Hartpury University as part of their MSc Animal Welfare, Policy and Legislation.  

We’ve done this for the past few years, focusing our session on the viability of alternative approaches to animals in research, and barriers to their uptake. As part of this, we set the students a task to investigate a specific barrier further, whether that be scientific, legislative, financial, cultural, or other, and come up with a plan on how to combat this.  

During the session, we had some great discussions with the students on different barriers, from the legislative and policy side, to the replacement of animals on the veterinary side of research. This was also the first of these sessions we’ve run since the publication of the Government’s ‘Replacing Animals in Science’ strategy, which gave us an opportunity to dive into this with the students and discuss their thoughts on governmental changes in the sector. 

Sharing knowledge at Public Policy Exchange

At the beginning of March, I was invited to speak at a Public Policy Exchange webinar.  

Public Policy Exchange organise events to stimulate policy discussion and debate on a range of topics. This webinar was focused on ‘Raising Animals Welfare Standards in the UK: Designing a comprehensive national animal welfare strategy.’  

As well as our perspective specifically on the use of animals in science and the Government strategy, the webinar also involved speakers from the RSPCA, Born Free, The Animal Law Foundation, Animal Equality, and the Universities of Glasgow, East Anglia, and Anglia Ruskin. These speakers covered issues across farm animal welfare, companion animal welfare, veterinary care, and wildlife. 

This was a really interesting opportunity to hear from others in the wider animal welfare sector on the issues they face and the work they do to combat these. Much of the conversation in this webinar focused on legislation and welfare strategies that research animals are excluded from.  

As the only organisation speaking on animals in research, we were able to highlight the policy opportunities specific to these animals. In this instance focused specifically on the Government strategy, including areas such as funding, training, and legislative reform around animals used in biomedical research.   

It’s important to make sure that animals in science aren’t forgotten when animal welfare, rights, and Governmental approaches are being discussed.  

Working at the Home office

Also, at the beginning of March, I attended our first meeting at the Home Office of the year. We are invited to these meetings as part of the Animal Protection and Welfare Stakeholder Group, alongside other animal protection and welfare, and scientific organisations. 

I’ve written about these meetings in more depth previously, but these meetings happen three times a year and give us a direct line to discuss the replacement of animals in science with the Government, and voice any issues, concerns, or questions we have. 

In this particular meeting, the discussion included:  

• The Government’s ‘Replacing Animals in Science’ strategy (especially around those commitments that sit with the Home Office, such implementation of the Rawle Report recommendations and the establishment of an alternative methods committee.),  

• The Animals in Science Regulation Units Annual Report, which outlines the role of the regulator of animals in science, and their performance across the year. Two of the key aspects of this report are around licensing of animal research, and cases of non-compliance and how they are dealt with.  

• Ongoing work within the Policy Unit, such as upcoming ministerial commissions. There are a lot of exciting pieces of work coming up in this area that we are looking forward to feeding into and sharing more about in due course. 

These are just a few examples from a busy couple of weeks and only scratch the surface of the outreach work we do across research, policy, and education.  

Engaging with different audiences is essential for us to create change. Specific to these examples, we have students who help us inspire a new generation to make non-animal research the norm, to policymakers who get us and our messages in front of the people who can put replacement at the forefront of legislation and regulations. We’re always keen to share our expertise and collaborate with those across the sector to support the replacement of animals in science. 

If you think our perspective would be valuable to a webinar, university course, or any other event or collaboration opportunity, we’d love to hear from you.