Chris Petkov, Chair of Understanding Animal Research and Professor of Comparative Neuropsychology at Newcastle University introduced the latest annual openness awards and the 87th Stephen Paget Memorial Award Lecture at the Francis Crick Institute on Monday 2 December.
Chris reminded the invited guests that this is the tenth anniversary year of the Concordat on Openness – an occasion that was marked by the first UAR Openness Conference held in the preceding summer – and remarked on the extraordinary volume of openness activities that have taken place under the banner of the Concordat in that time. He welcomed five new signatories to the total of 129 organisations, and congratulated the 15 Leaders in Openness including the newly appointed Bristol University and AstraZeneca, the first pharmaceutical company to achieve Leader status.
The Concordat goes from strength to strength, as evidenced by the winners of the 2024 Awards, and we look forward to seeing nominations for the 2025 awards when they open in May.
Concordat on Openness annual report
Chris welcomed the publication of the tenth annual Concordat report, which illustrates the high level of activity Concordat signatories have carried out in their work to forward openness. The report highlights the ways in which signatories are engaging with their staff and students, the public, and the media. The reporting period for this report was May 2023 to May 2024, and it is clear from the case studies and examples presented that signatories are working hard to explain why, how and when animals are used in scientific research.
Professor Sir Colin Blakemore Memorial Award
Sally Robinson, AWERB Chair at the University of Bristol and Cancer Research UK, Manchester Institute was invited to present the Professor Sir Colin Blakemore Memorial Award, now in its second year.
The award, made with funding from the Biomedical Research Education Trust, celebrates an individual who goes above and beyond normal expectations in raising awareness and public understanding of animal research. It was presented to Professor Emma Robinson of the University of Bristol for her determined efforts to speak out about the value and reality of animal research at a time when the university was under intense scrutiny and pressure from activist organisations, including a high-profile evening lecture at the Bristol Neuroscience Festival, where she engaged with the public as she talked about the use of animals in research to understand and treat mental health disorders, and without shrinking from controversial subjects such as the forces swim test.
The Openness Awards
This year's Paget lecturer, Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, presented a highly commended recognition and the first of two Openness Award winners.
The Association of Medical Research Charities was highly commended for their advances in transparency on the use of animals in grants awarded by AMRC member organisations, especially the efforts made, and value of, the AMRC collating and presenting details of the number of research grants funded by member charities in 2023 that involved animals, including a breakdown of the main animals involved.
The first Openness Award winner was the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for their approach to public engagement including two significant events in 2023: a largescale Open Day for the general public where particular efforts were made to engage with and encourage the attendance of local schools; and a 'friends and family' BBQ held at the establishment, where guests were given the opportunity to tour the animal facility to see firsthand what the work of their loved ones involves.
The second Openness Award winner was presented by Val Summers of Envigo to the University of Manchester for the event, 'Culture of care or culture of concern - let’s debate animal research'. This event created a space for students and others to come together to ask questions and hear the issue of animal experiments debated and discussed by three experts - from Understanding Animal Research, the RSPCA, and the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. The openness award judges particularly recognised the efforts that would have been needed to obtain the necessary internal support for holding such an event. They hope its success inspires other signatories to hold similar events, with a continuing broadening of the perspectives represented on the stage, and of those attending.
Watch the 2024 Openness Awards Highlights video
The Stephen Paget Memorial Lecture
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge delivered the 87th Stephen Paget Memorial Lecture to invited guests at the Francis Crick Institute, London, the latest in a long line of highly distinguished scientists who have made exceptional contributions in the world of animal research.
The lecture, entitled Navigating the complexities of working with and talking about animals in research, covered Prof Lovell-Badge’s ground-breaking work in the discovery of the SRY gene mechanism for embryonic sex determination and the role of the SOX family of genes in sexual differentiation and its disorders. Laboratory animals were central to all of this extraordinary work. Prof Lovell-Badge described how circumstances conspired to bring him into public view as one of the country’s most outspoken advocates for humane animal research, making a huge contribution over the course of a long career towards better public understanding and the creation of a safer, saner world for animal researchers and technologists everywhere.
Transcripts for previous Paget Lectures going back to 1927, and videos going back a little less far, can be found here.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting this event: British Toxicology Society, CC Tech, IAT, IPS and UKRI.
Watch the 2024 Paget Lecture by Professor Robin Lovell-Badge
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Last edited: 6 January 2025 15:02
