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.