Institute achieves Leadership in Openness status

Key points:

• The Leadership status recognises achievements and demonstrable commitment to openness around the use of animals in research.
• This is the first year that the Leadership status has been awarded.
• Leadership in Openness awards sit alongside signatory status to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research.

 
The Institute is delighted to have received one of the first awards of the Leader in Openness status by the organisation Understanding Animal Research (UAR).
 
Since becoming a founding signatory of the Concordat in 2014, the Institute has received commendations and awards for its approach to openness around the use of animals (mice and rats) in the Institute’s research.
 
The Leader in Openness status recognises organisations who commit considerable resource and energy to following best practice, embedding openness within their organisations, and making the commitments of the Concordat a reality. The first recipients of the status were announced at a Concordat workshop today. Leaders will hold their award for three years.
 
Director of the Babraham Institute, Professor Michael Wakelam commented: “We are incredibly proud to have achieved this recognition for the progress we’ve made towards how we work to embed openness, both internally within our community but also through our online presence and active engagement programme. The progress made involves a large number of people from across the Institute so this is very much a shared achievement. I congratulate everyone within the Institute who contributed to gaining this status, and also the other recipients. We look forward to continuing to share and learn from each other to further transparency about the use of animals in research.”
 
The Institute’s application for the Leader in Openness awards was assessed through three stages: a public panel, peer review and public review. The Institute was required to demonstrate how it had met a range of criteria relating to the Concordat’s four commitments.
 
Requirements included:

• providing full and balanced information about the use of animals in the Institute’s research via our website.
• describing how the Institute actively engages with local and national media around the use of animals in research to support transparency and engagement.
• detailing how we work to inform staff and students across our organisation of the involvement of animals in the Institute’s research, as well as sharing details of how they are kept and cared for.
• showing how the use of animals in research is included in our public engagement activities.

 
The Institute was able to demonstrate impact in these areas and future commitment to continuing to apply best practice. You can find out more about why and how animals are used in the Institute’s research on our animal research pages, find out about research involving animals (and alternatives) in our latest news stories, and browse information on our animal facility and ethical review process via the links.

Enquiries:
Dr Louisa Wood, Communications Manager, louisa.wood@babraham.ac.uk, 01223 496230

Additional/related resources:
News: Institute wins national Openness Award, December 2017
News: Institute commended at BBSRC Excellence with Impact competition, May 2016
News: Commitment to outreach and public engagement around animal research recognised, December 2015