EARA Leads on Openness and Transparency at FELASA 2025

EARA has just taken part in the 16th Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) Congress, held in Athens, Greece from 2 to 5 June 2025, making significant contributions to the scientific programme, addressing openness, transparency and public engagement in animal research. 

The whole EARA team was present throughout the event at Booth 22 in the Association Village, where they met with conference participants, EARA members and new stakeholders and distributed resources, including tools on public communication, namely EARA’s new leaflet and a special invitation to participate in the EARA Conference, later in November 2025.  

EARA staff – Kirk Leech, Nuno Miguel Gonçalves, Monique Havermans, Inês Serrenho and Helena Pinheiro – chaired or presented in seven different sessions, including three chaired sessions and workshops, six oral communications and two posters. 

Helena Pinheiro, EARA Communications Officer, spoke on “The Use of Social Media to Demonstrate Awareness in Animal Research”, highlighting case studies from EARA campaigns and offering best practice for digital engagement. Kirk Leech, EARA Executive Director, chaired and introduced “Harmonising NHP Research and Legislation Across Europe”, co-organised with EU-SIMIA. The session explored the fragmented interpretation of EU Directive 2010/63, impacting NHP research and welfare. Kristine Krug, Luca Bonini and Thomas Brochier discussed local regulatory structures, public engagement gaps and the need for coordinated action. They emphasised the urgent need for harmonized practices and collective communication strategies for ethical and sustainable NHP research in Europe.

Inês Serrenho, EARA Patient Engagement & Grants Officer and Portuguese Transparency Agreement co-cordinator, chaired a session on “Transparency Agreements as Tools to Promote Ethical Awareness, Culture of Care and Accountability.” Speakers included Kirk Leech, who shared lessons from European and institutional agreements, and Monique Havermans, Policy & Projects Officer who presented the situation in the Netherlands, dangerously moving from the 3Rs  to solely replacement. Ana Isabel Santos spoke on the Portuguese Agreement’s impact on institutional culture, while Hannah Hobson shared lessons from the UK Concordat on Openness and its progress after its 10th anniversary. 

On Wednesday, EARA delivered four presentations. In the “It’s All About Openness and Transparency”, poster session Inês presented EARA’s Patient Discovery Project’s impact in multiple European countries. Nuno Miguel Gonçalves, EARA Deputy Director, presented “How to Improve Institutional Website Content about Animal Research”, outlining EARA’s website review methodology and 2024 report results. 

Later that afternoon, Nuno conducted a workshop on “Mastering Non-Technical Summaries (NTS): Enhancing Transparency and Ethical Accountability”. The session focused on practical tools for writing accessible NTS, with interactive discussions and exercises to transform NTS into a platform promoting enhanced institutional transparency. 

Inês spoke at the session “Institutional Transparency in Animal-based Science” with “Systematic Review of European Public Attitudes Toward Animal Research: Trends and Implications”, highlighting what is known about public perception and the need for a new and focused polling methodology to assert the effect of transparency in the European Union. Kirk contributed to the session “FELASA: Its Visions, Missions and Liaisons”, representing EARA’s perspective on European coordination efforts in animal research communication and policy. 

EARA’s visibility at FELASA 2025 extended beyond the lecture halls. On Tuesday 3 June, EARA also coordinated the fifth edition of our Be Open About Animal Research Day (#BOARD25), a 24 hour global social media initiative encouraging institutions to share their communication practices and experiences in transparency. 

EARA’s participation at FELASA 2025 demonstrated our continued leadership in promoting a culture change in openness and underlined the need for sustained institutional support for transparency initiatives. The team engaged with dozens of stakeholders over the week, from suppliers, industry, researchers, animal facility managers and policy officers, reinforcing EARA’s role as a central hub for science communication in the field of animal research.