First EARA conference wraps-up, with participants boasting about its success
- Nuno Gonçalves
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
The first EARA Conference (#EARA2025) took place on 6–7 November at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC) in Berlin, co-organised with MDC and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The event gathered over 200 participants from 23 countries, including researchers, animal welfare officers, journalists, communicators and policy specialists, to exchange ideas on transparency, ethics and effective science communication.
Opening keynote speaker Fiona Fox, Chief Executive of the UK Science Media Centre, warned: “If we don’t talk about animal research, others will — and they’ll get it wrong.” She described how openness “pulled the rug from under the activists’ core accusation — secrecy,” transforming how UK media covers the topic.
In the Effective Science Communication and Media session, Sascha Karberg (Der Tagesspiegel) observed, “Acknowledging emotion does not replace rigour; it strengthens trust.” Volker Stollorz (Science Media Center Germany) urged continued cooperation between scientists and journalists as “a counterweight to misinformation and a guardian of quality.” Alba Morán-Álvarez (PhD) highlighted her outreach on TikTok: “People make health decisions from TikTok and AI — so experts have to show up there.” Andy Ridgway (University of the West of England) noted, “AI will not replace reporting, but it will reshape it.”
The final evening keynote by Lucie C. Côté (McGill University Health Centre) shared Canada’s rapid move towards a national transparency agreement: “Be ready, be open, be coordinated.”
On the second day, Susanna Louhimies (European Commission) reviewed 15 years of EU transparency and officially launched the redesign of the ALURES Non-Technical Summary Platform. “We use animals under a privilege — our side of the bargain is openness, accountability and rigour.”
Closing the conference, Kirk Leech, EARA Executive Director, celebrated the dialogue: “EARA2025 proved that when science opens up, trust grows.” He congratulated Sebastian Löser and Natascha Drude, winners of the flash-talk and poster prizes, and announced the new EARA website and its media bank (see below), as well as EARA 2027 in Lisbon!
