Concordat on Openness on Animal Research

Mouse in enriched cage

In 2014 the Babraham Institute joined forces with other institutes, universities, charities, umbrella bodies, pharmaceutical and health science companies, in signing a Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK. The Concordat, which was the result of intense collaboration and input from a vast number of stakeholders, serves to promote best practice within the bioscience community by encouraging transparency and openness within animal research.

The Concordat, which was published in May 2014, is underpinned by an agreement that communication about animal research should provide accurate descriptions of the benefits, harms and limitations of research, be realistic about the potential outputs of such research and be open about its impact on animal welfare and the ethical considerations involved.

Concordat Commitments

In signing the Concordat, we agree to fulfil the Concordat’s four commitments and will report annually on our progress against each of them:

  • We will be clear about when, how and why we use animals in research
  • We will enhance our communications with the media and the public about our research using animals
  • We will be proactive in providing opportunities for the public to find out about research using animals
  • We will report on progress annually and share our experiences

Openness achievements

Since becoming a signatory to the Concordat, the Institute is proud to have been recognised for our work to support openness around the use of animals in research: