Programme Advisory Committee

Christina Dodkin is Research Director at Animal Defenders International (ADI), an organisation which is active worldwide to end the suffering of captive animals in commercial use, including the replacement of animals in scientific research. Christina has worked as a researcher for thirteen years, including in campaigns which shaped the current European Directive on the use of animals in scientific research and its implementation into UK law. She has a background in Animal Behaviour with Psychology and has studied the utility of animal research as the basis for numerous scientific reports for ADI.

Martin Fray is Head of the Biological Resources Group at the MRC Harwell Institute. He works under Sara Wells at the Mary Lyon Centre and has expertise in the cryopreservation of mouse embryos and sperm, plus other assisted reproduction techniques. In addition, his group has many years of experience disseminating mouse models around the world. Martin is a key member of a worldwide network of repositories thathave preserved a vast array of unique mouse strains. This work neatly crosses the divide between the use of animals in research and reducing the number animals being bred for research.  Martin and Sara share roles and responsibilities on the PAC. 

Carrie Friese*is Associate Professor in Sociology at the LSE. She currently holds a Wellcome Trust New Investigator Award for research on 'Care as Science: The Role of Animal Husbandry in Translational Medicine’ and will be a Leverhulme Research Fellow in 2021 where she will write "(Human)itarianism and the Laboratory Animal: Hierarchy and Care in Britain". Carrie's position on the panel will further links between social science in this area, connect the qualitative research in this programme to survey data, and contextualise this programme of UK based work within research on national cultures of science.

Kimberley Jayne* has a background in animal welfare and behaviour with a PhD in Animal Behaviour from the University of Exeter.  She engages with policy and decision makers to reduce and replace the use of animals in research and to develop strategies that work towards the implementation of animal-free research methods.  She has a particular expertise in behavioural testing. 

Sabina Leonelli* is Co-Director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences (Egenis) at the University of Exeter, where she leads the Data Studies strand. She is also a Turing Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of the journal History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Sabina brings considerable expertise across the history and epistemology of model organism research, translational research, open science and data practices in contemporary biology, as well as experience in collaborative and international research.

Dave Lewis* is Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience & Bioethics and a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds. He chairs both the British Pharmacological Society’s Animal Welfare and In-vivo Pharmacology Committee and IUPHAR’s Integrative and Organ Systems Pharmacology Initiative. An in-vivo neuroscientist by training, Dave brings research expertise and experience to the programme on innovative ways of engaging across science, animal welfare, education, public and patient groups.

Elliot Lilley* is Programme Manager for the 3Rs in vaccine batch release and quality control testing at the UK National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs).  After a 15 year career in the pharmaceutical industry, he spent 9 years with the RSPCA research animals department where he worked to promote refinement.  He joined the NC3Rs in 2020 to work on a project to apply the 3Rs to batch biologics, working closely with the WHO and a working group of international experts. He is a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and animal ethics editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology.  He will assist the programme with specific information relevant to the 3Rs and translational research.

Kate Millar is the Director of the Centre for Applied Bioethics, School of Biosciences, at the University of Nottingham and has significant experience in research and teaching of veterinary and animal ethics, including on EU-funded projects such as ‘The Network of Animal Disease Infectiology Research Facilities (NADIR)’ exploring the use of high containment laboratory animal research. Kate will help provide access to international academic and practitioner animal research networks where relevant, and share her expertise in bioethics and engagement.

Paolo Palladino is Professor of History and Theory in the Department of History at Lancaster University, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of History and Theory of International Relations at the University of Groningen. His research has evolved at the intersection of historical, philosophical and sociological perspectives on the life sciences and their place in the organisation of agricultural and medical modes of production. Most recently, a Marie Sklodowska Curie International Fellowship has enabled him to turn his attention to the role of non-human animals in processes of rural regeneration, focusing on the ways in which this role calls into question our understanding of ourselves, particularly in relation to the spatial and temporal coordinates by which we define ourselves.    

Jane Smith* has worked on the ethics of animal research and testing for nearly 30 years, collaborating with wide range of organisations, including industry, academia, and NGOs. Jane will play a vital role in connecting this programme to the long-standing work of the Boyd Group. Established in 1992, in the midst of polarised debate over animal research in the UK, the Boyd Group sought to act as forum for open exchange of views across perspectives on animal research.

Sara Wells is Director of the Mary Lyon Centre at the MRC Harwell Institute**. MRC Harwell is an international centre for mouse genetics research from the earliest stages of development to diseases of ageing. The Mary Lyon Centre generates and characterises mouse models of human disease for research both within MRC Harwell and the wider UK research community. In addition to her role as Director, Sara sits on the council of the Laboratory Animal Science Association and the animal welfare and ethical review bodies for other establishments. Sara will facilitate access for research projects across the programme. Sara and Martin Fray share responsibilities and duties on the PAC panel.

Greg Whelan is a Member of the European College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and a Veterinarian with the Global Comparative & Translational Sciences Team at GSK. Greg has made significant impact on policy debates around animal research and welfare, including through contributions to the House of Lords Animals in Scientific Procedures Report in 2002, as Laboratory Animals Veterinary Association representative on the Boyd Group (2002–2004) and the British Veterinary Association Ethics and Welfare Group (2013–2015). He will provide perspectives from and links to the use of animals in pharmaceutical drug discovery and development.

Annabella Williams is Head of Engagement at Understanding Animal Research (UAR). UAR are a non-profit organisation aiming to achieve a broad understanding of the humane use of animals in medical, veterinary, scientific, and environmental research in the UK. Bella has been central to the development and delivery of the 2014 Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, and led the Public Dialogue work that underpinned it. Bella has considerable knowledge and experience of the changing forms of public and patient engagement across animal research relevant to this programme, and will help connect programme qualitative findings to existing survey data.