On May 15, 2025, the Young Researchers and Innovators (YRI) and the mentorship committees from COST Action IMPROVE hosted the online webinar "Ethics, Animal Research and One Health: Fostering Awareness and Career Development through 3R Principles and Animal Welfare," moderated by Anil Can and given by Dr. Yesim Isil Ulman. The event brought together approximately 50 participants from diverse backgrounds, including early-career researchers, animal welfare advocates, and professionals in biomedical sciences.

Event Highlights

• The webinar provided a comprehensive overview of ethical considerations in animal research, with a particular focus on the 3R principles and their critical role in advancing both animal welfare and scientific integrity.
• Participants engaged in discussions on the interactions of animal research ethics and the One Health approach, emphasizing the importance of responsible research practices for human, animal, and environmental health.
• The session featured interactive elements, encouraging attendees to share experiences and reflect on challenges faced in their own research environments.

Key Outcomes

• Increased Awareness: Attendees discussed the ethical frameworks guiding animal research and its relationships with the One Health concept.
• Career Development: The webinar highlighted how ethical awareness and adherence to animal welfare standards can positively impact career progression in research, aligning with the broader goals of responsible science.
• Networking and Inclusivity: The event fostered a supportive environment for knowledge exchange, connecting participants from various countries and disciplines, including those from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs).

For further resources on ethics in animal research and career development, participants are encouraged to engage with the ongoing activities of COST Action IMPROVE (https://cost-improve.eu/).

Thriving during your career as a researcher? YES - and it can be learned!

On April 29, 2025, Dr. Felisa Berenguer, Training and Career Development Officer at ABG - Association Bernard Gregory, led the interactive online seminar “Successfully Navigating Your Research Career.” The event was organized by the YRI (Young researcher and innovators) and Mentorship Committees of the European COST Action IMPROVE, bringing together early career researchers from across disciplines and countries.

During the 1.5-hour session, Dr. Berenguer shared practical tools, actionable strategies, and insightful perspectives to help researchers maximize their professional potential while safeguarding their well-being. The seminar adopted a panoramic approach, addressing key aspects of a successful research journey:

• Time Management & Planning Tools: Participants learned how to organize their projects efficiently, anticipate necessary actions, and plan ahead to meet deadlines without unnecessary stress.
• Effective Communication Strategies: The session explored ways to communicate assertively, formulate clear requests, and navigate professional environments with confidence.
• Recognizing Early Warning Signs: Dr. Berenguer highlighted the importance of self-awareness, teaching attendees how to detect early signs of stress or disengagement and take proactive steps to maintain mental health.

The webinar was designed to be highly interactive, encouraging participants to engage and reflect on their own experiences. The session’s inclusive format ensured accessibility for researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs).

Through this initiative, ABG - Association Bernard Gregory reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to supporting early career researchers with resources that help them care for themselves, pursue their ambitions, and build sustainable, fulfilling career paths.

Key Takeaways:

• Research careers are marathons, not sprints - good project management, communication, and self-care are essential for long-term success.
• Practical tools and strategies can help researchers navigate challenges and maintain well-being.
• Professional development is a continuous journey, and support networks like ABG and COST IMPROVE are here to help every step of the way.

For more information about ABG’s career development resources, visit www.abg.asso.fr

During the three sessions, eight participants shared their experiences on how a growth environment can propel performance, resilience, creativity, and psychological safety—all essential for tackling complex biomedical science challenges. By fostering a culture of psychological safety and promoting learning agility, the course helped attendees cultivate a more open, creative, and solution-driven mindset, critical to advancing the 3Rs principles in biomedical research.

The attendants of the MTG program had access to the innovative Growth Indicator psychometric tool, which helped them to identify and challenge mental habits limiting their potential. This tool consists of a pretest before the course and a post-test six months after, allowing the measurement of long-term progress. In that way, the participants highlighted the course's accessibility, with long-term access to training materials (up to 12 months) allowing for sustained habit changes and continued personal development.

The feedback emphasized the program's positive impact on enhancing collaboration and fostering a nurturing research environment, aligning perfectly with the goals of the CA21139 - IMPROVE network. Stay tuned for more empowering opportunities aimed at elevating scientific excellence and leadership in research!

During the virtual mobility (VM), it was given as  a 1-hour workshop about grant writing as storytelling.

The workshop was structured in two parts, both focusing on effective grant writing as a narrative practice.In the first part, it was emphasized the importance of viewing grant writing as a form of storytelling. And highlighted how this approach can help researchers communicate their projects more compellingly and persuasively to grant reviewers. The session focused on the underlying reasons why structuring research proposals in a narrative form can increase the chances of success.

The second part provided participants with a rhetorical framework designed to guide researchers in shaping the narrative of their grant proposals. It was shared practical insights, grounded in my own experience as an academic researcher, on how to craft a clear and impactful narrative that addresses the core criteria reviewers look for. This section of the workshop equipped participants with strategies for articulating their research ideas in a way that effectively communicates the value of their proposals. Moreover, supported document was shared that included some information about writing skills guidelines.

Young researchers committee hosting the section and during the workshop primarily we tried to get involved young researchers actively engaging with the content, participating in discussions, and reflecting on how these strategies could be applied to their grant writing efforts.

The workshop’s alignment with the COST Excellence and Inclusivity Policy ensured a diverse mix of participants in terms of geographical representation, career stage, and gender.

The TATAbox is a game which gathers players around a common goal: inspire innovation & encourage collaboration to make New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) a reality.

The session brought together teams from the COST Action IMPROVE from Vienna (Austria), Rome (Italy) and Prague (Czech Republic) and the course moderator Valentin Salamone from Altertox on 21^st of May 2024.

The IMPROVE partners received a training about the TATAbox as well as a video tutorial before playing the game. Participants were introduced to the new education material dedicated to teaching about validation of alternatives to animal testing. Moreover, the IMPROVE partners were trained also to use this material for their master and bachelor students afterwards in their course.

The online course covered following aspects:

• To facilitate engagement and interaction around NAMs (new approach methodologies)
• To dive into the ecosystem of NAMs by playing the role of the key stakeholders involved in the
  development of NAMs ( NGO, SME, Academia, Industry)
• To learn NAMs and the Associated vocabulary (Glossary)
• To identify the key steps necessary for the validation of NAMs
• To stimulate collaboration between stakeholders in the chain of development of 3Rs or non-animal methods and technologies.
• To collaborate between end-users and developers (e.g. industry, regulators, biotech companies,
  policy makers) and increase the chance that developments meet performance criteria, which are
  fit-for-purpose and will actually be used, accepted and implemented
• To study and understand behavior of stakeholders and identify the drivers that cause them to
  use either (traditional) animal studies/methods or to choose for non-animal methods or
  combinations of them. Arguments may be diverse, e.g. ethical, common practice, scientific, …
• To increase cross-disciplinary science which is expected to lead to more effective research
  strategies, and hence, fewer animal testing. Stimulation of cross-disciplinary science starts with
  implementation of a cross-disciplinary learning environment. The network could organize a
  working group on interdisciplinary research for the purpose of fewer animal testing.
• To attract next generation of Young Researchers and Innovators (YRIs) for the 3Rs field, support
  them to learn about the manifold subjects, topics and possibilities in the field to contribute to the
  improvement of biomedical science in general and foster their education via workshops, training
  schools, conferences, etc.

Following learnings and positive feedbacks were collected after the online course:

• New information" and "thinking about": the game is very nice because it allows to learn the time course of the activities for the validation of new alternative methods. So I think it will be very useful for our students!
• Definitions connected to NAMs
• Learned some new terms in particular towards in silico modelling
• New definitions in the field of NAMs
• “During the second part of the workshop, some participants realised that they did not know enough about validation and encouraged them to learn more about the topic.