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Welcome to the Proefdiervrij Event of the year. Great to see you. At the Proefdiervrij Event 2023, we will take you into the world of animal-free innovations and technologies. Scientists, policy makers and experts have gathered today to create a future where science and compassion go hand in hand. Check out this page to see what awaits you today!
The programme
The programme of the (English-language) event is as follows:
14:45 – 15:00
Welcome by Proefdiervrij director Debby Weijers
15.00 – 15.45Â
Keynote speaker Prof Paul Carmichael, Unilever: “Development and implementation of non-animal methods for preventing animal testing for cosmetic ingredients – an industry perspective”
15:45 – 16:30
Panel “Building confidence in animal-free innovations” Panelists:
- Birgit Goversen, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Amsterdam UMC
- Dr Jeffrey Bajramovic, Head of 3Rs Centre Utrecht
- Luisa Bastos, PhD, Programme Leader Animals in Science, Eurogroup for Animals
16:30 – 17:15
Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge 2023
- The teams introduce themselves
- Announcement of the winner
17:15
Drinks and snacks
The speakers
Keynote speaker
Prof dr. Paul Carmichael has worked at Unilever’s Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) in the UK since 2004, where he is in charge for developing and implementing new non-animal-based approaches to safeguarding human and environmental health. In other words, how to ensure consumer and environmental safety without using and harming animals. With his more than 30 years of experience in toxicology and cancer research and since through his special professorship at Wageningen University, he is therefore logically the keynote speaker of this event!
Panelists
Dr. Jeffrey Bajramovic is the head of the 3Rs-centre in Utrecht; whose mission is to promote the development, adoption and acceptance of methods that can Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of laboratory animals. Jeffrey is a biologist, graduated from Leiden University, and received his PhD in neuroimmunology from TNO. There he was introduced to animal-free technology. He is pioneering human brain material as a source for research with cultured cells.
Birgit Goversen is a postdoctoral researcher at Amsterdam UMC working in the Department of Physiology. During her PhD research, she worked on animal-free methods to test cardiac drugs for side effects. Her goal for the future is to be able to offer an animal-free test for every patient tailored to their needs. In addition to conducting research, Birgit has also set up a master’s course on animal-free alternatives at VU University Amsterdam. In the course, Birgit takes students through all facets of the research process, but completely animal-free. With this course, she wants to make students aware of the limits of current experimental animal models and teach them about the possibilities of non-animal innovations.
Luisa Bastos is programme leader Animals in Science at Eurogroup for Animals. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Before her current job, she was an assistant researcher at the Institute for Healthcare Research and Innovation where she researched the impact of animal and non-animal science in healthcare. Her advocacy grew to focus on animals in science and education, nationally and internationally. She has advocated for animal rights in a political party, NGOs and other informal civic platforms. She also co-organised the first and second International Conference of Alternatives to Animal Testing.
What is the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge?
During the Proefdiervrij Event, a prize will also be awarded to the winning team of the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge 2023. The four participating teams have been working for weeks to set up their own companies. Under the guidance of GameChanger Challenge and Proefdiervrij, these animal-free researchers are coached in setting up their own companies, turning their scientific breakthrough within the life sciences into a well-thought-out business case.
Through the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge, the impact of test animal-free research is increased in order to accelerate the transition to a test animal-free world. An important moment, therefore, which we are happy to highlight during the Proefdiervrij Event 2023.
The four participating teams:
What you can do for a laboratory animal-free world
You will see at the Proefdiervrij Event 2023 that a lab animal-free world is closer than you think. Be part of this transition and keep challenging the status quo, only then will we realise ethical science that is better for animals and humans. Want to know what you can do to contribute to this? Here are some tips!
- Apply non-animal alternatives wherever possible
- Educate students and colleagues about the benefits of non-animal models and how they can be applied in research. Interested in organising a lecture with us? Get in touch with us!
- Share your knowledge and resources with other scientists involved in the development of alternative methods in order to promote progress.
- Use databases to see if there is an animal-free alternative you can use in your research; such as FCS-free.org and NAT-database.org.
- Join the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge: Do you have a good idea for a animal-free research model, but could use some help setting up your own company? During the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge you will receive personal coaching and have a chance of winning a sum of money to further realise your impactful business.
- Collaborate with us. We fund your animal-free research, but also offer you a network of enthusiastic frontrunners in science. Would you like to know more about the collaboration opportunities? Then click here!