The annual reports of the Transparency Agreements (TA) on animal research in the Netherlands and Portugal, recently published, have charted good improvements in openness among their signatory institutions in the last year.
The Portuguese report has been published today at the start of the Animal Research Open Week. The week includes a series of talks, seminars and animal facility tours, hosted by 15 of the TA institutions, with the content being shared on social media during the week.
The Portugal report showed that the majority (25) of the signatory institutions have engaged with the public by communicating regularly about how animal research is conducted in their facilities, or about the results of biomedical studies that required the use of animals.
They did this primarily through news (72%), hosting events (64%), courses/workshops (64%), lectures (60%), photographs of animal models (60%).
Last Friday during #BOARD24, the Netherlands Transparency Agreement also published its annual report and found that biomedical institutions are using an increasing number of ways to communicate with the public.
Multiple signatories arranged access to their facilities for the media, and there was also an interview (in Dutch) with Manon Beekhuijzen, head of Toxicology Operations at EARA member Charles River Laboratories, about the current state of animal and animal-free research.
The reports were discussed, along with the progress of the other European TA initiatives, in a session (pictured) at the UAR openness conference, last Friday.