Lectures & Talks - COST Action IMPROVE

The webinar jointly organized by the COST Actions IMPROVE (CA21139), AFFECT-EVO (CA23106), and LIFT (CA21124).

🧠 In this episode, Dr. Tom Smulders, Chair of AFFECT-EVO, presents on:
“Adult hippocampal neurogenesis as a valence marker”
Explore how neurogenesis in the adult brain can serve as an indicator of emotional states and welfare in animals.

📺 Watch the full webinar here: https://youtu.be/TuzKz0jZob4?si=ER8VR6si7uhwY6l5

This work is supported by COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology, which empowers researchers to connect, collaborate, and innovate across Europe. Learn more at www.cost.eu

At the session titled “Do I have a choice? Reconciling personal and professional ethics in laboratory animal science training” Augusto Vitale presented a talk called “I am not sure I want to do this…: students’ emotional perspective on animal experiments”.

In this presentation he presented qualitative results form the interviews with 16 students at the istituto Superiore4 di Sanità in Rome. The interviews focused on the potential emotional difficulties encountered with experimental animals, and the way to solve such difficulties. The self-trust in carrying out such procedures in a professional manner was the main factor tu overcome the unpleasentness of the procedures. The sacrifice of animals resulted to be the most critical aspect. The majority of respondants can do it, when they manage to put aside the emotional aspect of killing a living being, and put forward the need for science. The ones who cannot follow this mental process will not sacrifice animals. Related to this, it appeared that one-on-one relationship with a tutor or supervisor was by far preferred to the participation in organised courses.

The crucial factors in addressing by staff members emotional distress in students were: give time and respect; never force anybody to do anything they dont feel like doing; understanding emotional diversity; empathy and dissipation of fears; re-locate tasks within a project.

Augusto Vitale and Anna Olsson jointly organized a session entitled “Do I have a choice? Reconciling personal and professional ethics in laboratory animal science training”.

Session summary:

The use of animals in research is ethically problematic, in particular through the harm that is caused to experimental animals. Much has been invested in addressing the ethical issues on a collective level (e.g. regulations, training, licensing and ethics review).

Much less attention has been given to the moral quandary of animal experimentation in the context of individual ethics. It has been left to each (future) professional in the field (graduate students, researchers, animal technicians, veterinarians) to find their own way of dealing with the ethical and emotional challenges implied in a profession where harming and killing animals is sometimes unavoidable. This can no longer be taken for granted. As teachers and mentors, we increasingly meet early career researchers in training who find themselves in a real quandary as regards their own use of animals in experiments. We argue that it is time to discuss how to best support these future professionals. We believe that the typical research community responses to trainees’ concerns (claiming that they like everyone else need to get used to the practice, or questioning if they are a good fit for the job) are problematic. We will argue that as established practitioners in the laboratory animal science community, we can play a key role in supporting a more constructive discussion about when to use animals and how to use them, hence ultimately contributing to reducing animal suffering.

This session is organized in collaboration with COST Action CA21139 3Rs concepts to improve the quality of biomedical science (IMPROVE)

Session program:

Sonja Rumpel (Germany): Psychological Stress and Strain in Laboratory Animal Professionals

Renelle McGlacken (United Kingdom): Personal Impact of Animal Use: (Tangential) Insights from an interview study with UK researchers/students

Augusto Vitale (Italy): I Am Not Sure I Want to Do It: Emotional Perspective on Animal Experiment

Anna Olsson (Portugal): Who Should Learn to Do Experiments with Animals and How?

At the session titled “A Win-Win Situation for Research Quality and Work Satisfaction: More Involvement of Animal Care Staff” (organised by Fernando Gonzales Uarquin and Paulin Jirkof) Augusto Vitale presented a paper called “The role of technicians in qualitative assessment of animal welfare and the subjective experience”.

In this paper he addressed the role of technicians in the qualitative assessment of animal welfare, particularly in the context of non-human primate research. The presentation underscored that while objective welfare indicators are important, technicians—through their daily interactions and familiarity with individual animals—can provide valuable insights into psychological wellbeing and individual differences. Empathy and mutual trust between staff and animals were highlighted as important factors in welfare assessment. Empathy was also identified as a common and necessary requisite to carry out daily maintenance of animal colonies.

At the FELASA 2025 Congress in Athens, the SkillUp Tech session titled “A Win-Win Situation for Research Quality and Work Satisfaction: More Involvement of Animal Care Staff” brought together professionals from across Europe to discuss the evolving role of animal care staff and technicians in laboratory animal science. The session, chaired by Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin and Paulin Jirkof, focused on the potential benefits and current challenges of increasing the involvement of these staff members in research planning and conduct. A quick on-site survey revealed that a high number of lab technicians and animal care staff participated in the session.

Survey Insights: The current situation of Communication and Involvement

Sophie Schober presented findings from a large-scale, European survey conducted under the COST Action IMPROVE initiative. The survey, which gathered responses from more than 30 countries, revealed several key points:

Overall, researchers rated communication with other project members as good, but actual discussion about experimental planning with animal care staff occurred infrequently.
Animal care staff and technicians expressed a clear interest in being more involved in discussions about planning and conducting experiments, as well as in receiving training on experimental planning and protocol development.
Both researchers and non-scientific staff recognized the value of such involvement for improving research quality

The Importance of Multidirectional Communication

Bettina Bert’s presentation highlighted that while animal experiments are essential for scientific progress, questionable research practices—such as poor planning, selective reporting, and lack of transparency—can undermine both the scientific and ethical value of these studies. Open science practices like preregistration, data sharing, and comprehensive reporting have the potential to address these issues, but successful implementation depends on all participants, including technicians and care staff, understanding the importance of research rigor and transparency. Bettina also presented results from the survey, ensuring the willingness of animal care staff to be involved in scientific discussions and indicating that there is still room to enhance communication and training in these areas together with animal care staff and lab technicians.

Qualitative Assessment of Animal Welfare

Augusto Vitale’s talk addressed the role of technicians in the qualitative assessment of animal welfare, particularly in the context of non-human primate research. The presentation underscored that while objective welfare indicators are important, technicians—through their daily interactions and familiarity with individual animals—can provide valuable insights into psychological wellbeing and individual differences. Empathy and mutual trust between staff and animals were highlighted as important factors in welfare assessment. Empathy was also identified as a common and necessary requisite to carry out daily maintenance of animal colonies

Interactive Discussion and Polling

The session included interactive polls, inviting participants to reflect on their professional background, experiences with compassion fatigue, and views on the involvement of care staff and technicians in experimental planning. The responses indicated a general openness to increased inclusion, particularly when supported by appropriate training and communication structures. It was also discussed that publishers could contribute to this process Lab technicians and animal care staff should be named in the acknowledgement or they should get the possibility to publish their opinions.

S. Schober, B. Bert and A. Vitale at the session

On the 20th of May 2025 at Norecopa's 18th Annual Meeting Winfried Neuhaus was invited to give a talk on "The rise of 3Rs centres in Europe and their role in the development of the field of 3Rs". He provided an overview about the rise of the 3Rs centres in the last decades linked to the implementation of EU Directive 2010/63 EU, the current developments in the 3Rs field including several policy initiatives and the COST Action IMPROVE.

Date: April 9–10, 2025

Location: University of Helsinki

Over two days, the FIN3R Symposium and Workshop brought together experts, researchers, and professionals from laboratory animal science to discuss and advance the culture of care in Finland and Europe. The event featured lectures from international and Finnish speakers on the first day, followed by an interactive workshop on the second day.

COST Action IMPROVE participated through Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin’ s presentation on integrating animal care staff and lab technicians into experimental planning—a promising step toward enhancing transparency in research practices. Such initiative, created within CA IMPROVE, involve around 14 members of the Action.

On Day 1, the symposium was chaired by Mikko Karpale (University of Oulu) with lecturers from Paulin Jirkof (University of Zurich, Switzerland), Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin (University Medical Center Mainz, Germany), Jordi Tremoleda (Queen Mary University of London, UK), Vootele Voikar (University of Helsinki), Hajnalka Nadai (Experimentica), and Hanna-Marja Voipio (University of Oulu). The discussion panel was chaired by Noora Holk (Orion Pharma), allowing participants to exchange ideas and reflect on the day's topics.

On day 2, the workshop focused on practical aspects of communication challenges within animal facilities. Led by Jordi Tremoleda and Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin, it brought together 15 participants for an interactive session.

Key activities included: 1) Sharing Care-full stories to illustrate real-world experiences, 2) Group discussions addressing routine communication problems encountered in animal facilities. 3) Exploring training materials designed to adapt culture-of-care practices to different institutions. 4) Exchanging ideas and experiences among participants from diverse professional backgrounds.

For further inquiries about the FIN3R Symposium and Workshop or to learn more about the culture of care initiatives, please reach out to the organizing team via email at info@fin3r.fi. Additional resources, including training materials and networking opportunities, can also be accessed through the FIN3R website: www.fin3r.fi.

The 4^th Asian Congress for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (4ACAAE) and 7^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments India (SAAE-I) took place in Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India from 12.12.-14.12.2024 (www.jamiahamdard.ac.in/4ACAAE) under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Y.J. Gupta and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), led by Prof. Seikh Raisuddin (Organizing Secretary) supported by Prof. H.A. Khan, Prof. Suhel Parvez, Dr. Nidhi and many more wonderful people from his team.

Winfried Neuhaus was invited to the congress and gave a talk in the international session entitled “Overview about recent European 3Rs activities with a focus on 3Rs centres”, in which he took a closer look at current European developments in the 3Rs field with respect to the EC roadmap of phasing out animal studies and the response dynamics from several stakeholders, and the activities of EU3Rnet (network of European 3R centres) and the COST Action IMPROVE.

Introduction and Updates of the COST Action IMPROVE; Talk of W. Neuhaus at the SGV 2024 in Lausanne, Switzerland (26.-27.2024). Link to the event: SGV Meeting 2024

W.Neuhaus, réunion SGV 2024, 27 novembre, 2024, CHUV, Lausanne. (© Gabriel Monnet)

Introduction and Updates of the activities of EU3Rnet including an introduction of the COST Action IMPROVE; Talk of W. Neuhaus at the Animalfree Research Forum (Forum - Animalfree Research) in Zurich, Switzerland (11.11.2024).

A summary video of the event could be found via this link: Animalfree Research forum 2024

The COST Action IMPROVE has introduced itself at the Symposium on "3Rs and NAMs: all-inclusive?" in Utrecht, The Netherlands on the 19th of June 2024 (The 3Rs and NAMs: all-inclusive? - News & Events - Utrecht University).

One session featuring leaders of the IMPROVE - 3Rs concepts to improve the quality of biomedical science (CA21139) - Winfried Neuhaus / Nuno Henrique Franco / Jeffrey Bajramovic , talking about sustainability of 3Rs and how this concept is covering good science with best methods available, also the role of increasing number of 3R Centers in Europe.

Dr. Maria Kitsara gave a talk about "Micro- and nanoengineered technologies for bio-applications: focus on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine" at the School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK on 9. August 2023. Emphasis was devoted to cardiac disease modelling and regenerative medicine using polymeric materials.