Membership

Information about the members of the Animals in Science Committee and meeting minutes.

Chair

Professor David Main, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resources) and Professor of Production Animal Health and Welfare, Royal Agricultural University

Committee members

  • Professor Jonathan Birch, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics and Political Science

  • Mrs Caroline Chadwick, semi-retired

  • Professor Johanna Gibson, Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London

  • Dr Stuart Greenhill, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Associate Dean, College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University

  • Professor Andrew Jackson, Professor of Neural Interfaces, Faculty of Medical Sciences Newcastle University

  • Mrs Wendy Jarrett, Chief Executive, Understanding Animal Research

  • Professor Martin Knight, Professor of Mechanobiology, School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary, University of London (job share)

  • Professor Stephen May, retired; Honorary Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Education, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London

  • Mrs Tina O’Mahony, Biofacility Manager, Cambridge University

  • Professor Hazel Screen, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary, University of London (job share)

  • Dr Dharaminder Singh, Principal Bioengineer, CN Bio Innovations

  • Professor Christine J Watson, Professor Emeritus of Cell and Cancer Biology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge

  • Dr Carl Westmoreland, retired

  • Dr Lucy Whitfield, Director, OWL Vets Ltd

Biographies

Professor David Main (Chair)

Professor David Main is Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resources) and Professor of Production Animal Health and Welfare at the Royal Agricultural University. He was formerly Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Bristol.

A veterinary surgeon, Professor Main has research interests in welfare assessment, intervention strategies to improve welfare and animal welfare education.

He has been involved in several large collaborative projects including:

  • AssureWel - a project that introduced welfare outcome assessment into UK certification schemes

  • EU WelNet - a network of welfare scientists that provided welfare advice to the European Commission

Professor Jonathan Birch

Professor Jonathan Birch is a Professor of Philosophy at the LSE, where he leads a project called “Foundations of Animal Sentience”. He has a PhD in History & Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge and was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge, from 2012 to 2014. He joined the LSE as an Assistant Professor in 2014 and was promoted to Professor in 2023.

Professor Birch has written widely on animal sentience, welfare and ethics, and on the conceptual foundations of the biological sciences. In 2021, he led a “Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans” that led to invertebrate animals including octopuses, crabs and lobsters being included in the UK government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In addition to his interest in animal sentience, he also has a longstanding interest in the evolution of altruism and social behaviour. His first book, The Philosophy of Social Evolution, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

Mrs Caroline Chadwick

Caroline Chadwick retired in May 2023 after a career on both sides of the animal research fence. Initially starting out as a researcher at the Cancer Research UK Paterson Institute in Manchester, she then crossed over to become Director of the Biomedical Services Unit at the University of Birmingham for the last 16 years. She has been a strong supporter of LASA including time as council member and scientific meetings secretary. A career highlight in 2023 was receiving the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Kings Birthday Honours list for services to humane animal research. During her career she has been involved in many working groups looking at many aspects of 3Rs in animal research.

Professor Johanna Gibson

Johanna Gibson is Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary, University of London. Johanna has researched and published widely in intellectual property and policy, including biotechnology and medicine. She also researches and teaches in animal law and welfare, including public engagement, dissemination and policy impact, as well as the application of behaviour science in the development and implementation of law and policy.

Dr Stuart Greenhill

Dr Stuart Greenhill is a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Associate Dean within the college of Health and Life Sciences at Aston University. With a background in pharmacology and electrophysiology, and expertise in cellular and network neuroscience, his research is focussed on the contribution of synaptic plasticity to brain development and the emergence of neurological conditions such as epilepsy. He is involved in the design and deployment of novel techniques for cellular and network neuroscience research, with an emphasis on 3Rs developments in wireless telemetry, organotypic culture and human tissue electrophysiology.

Professor Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is a Professor of Neural Interfaces at the Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University. His scientific interests include understanding how the dynamic activity of distributed networks in the brain supports the learning and execution of skilled behaviour. In addition, he develops closed-loop neurostimulation technologies with clinical applications in the treatment of neurological conditions including stroke, spinal cord injury and epilepsy.

Mrs Wendy Jarrett

Wendy Jarrett is chief executive of Understanding Animal Research. She has more than 30 years’ experience of science and health communication. Her work has included awareness programmes on the risk factors for heart disease, male cancers and a campaign to persuade the UK food industry to reduce the amount of salt added to products. Wendy led the development of the UK Concordat on Openness on Animal Research, which now has more than 100 signatories. She is a trustee of the Blood Pressure Research Trust and a vice president of the Institute of Animal Technology.

Professor Martin Knight

Professor Martin Knight is a bioengineering at Queen Mary University of London with a track record of research developing and using organ-on-a-chip technology. With his ASC job share, Prof Hazel Screen, he led the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network and now Directs the Queen Mary Centre for Predictive in vitro Models. This emerging multidisciplinary field has the potential to transform biomedical research and pre-clinical drugs testing as an alternative to the use of animals. Martin is particularly interested in the role of mechanical forces on regulating cell biology and how this can be incorporated into in vitro models. His work covers development of organ-chip models for a wide variety of tissues and diseases, including arthritis, cancer, atherosclerosis and kidney disease. He is passionate about translating this technology to provide safer, more effective therapeutics for all.

Martin is currently the chair of council for the UK BioMedEng Association and the Dean for Research in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Queen Mary University of London.

Professor Stephen May

Stephen May is Senior Vice Principal and Professor of Education at the Royal Veterinary College. He was Professor of Equine Medicine and Surgery for more than 20 years, before becoming the College’s Professor of Education and Senior Vice-Principal. He is a past President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and chairs its Graduate Outcomes, CPD and Legislation Working Groups. He is a past President of the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation, and the European College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Stephen is passionate about the development of veterinary surgeons of the future so that they not only survive but also thrive in clinical practice. He is interested in professional identity and capability and learning that supports this, including communication skills, leadership and team-working, scientific, clinical and ethical reasoning, and professionalism. He has pioneered new approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, and has extensive experience of curricular development and design, as well as quality assurance work in the UK, US and European systems. His research focuses on the scholarship of primary care, reflective practice and learning, professional development and assessment methods. He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on equine matters and veterinary education and training.

Mrs Tina O’Mahony

Tina O’Mahony is a Biofacility Manager at Cambridge University. She has over 30 years’ experience working as a technician, a NACWO and NTCO. Tina is the Chair of board of assessors and an Institute of Animal Technology council member. In 2019, she joined a working group with the NC3Rs to look at refinements to rodent head fixation and fluid/food control for neuroscience which was published in November 2022.

Tina is passionate about how we educate both animal care staff and researchers alike. She has taught on module training courses for over 20 years as well as bespoke courses on how to implement the 3Rs in the care of our animals as well as the procedures carried out.

Professor Hazel Screen

Professor Hazel Screen is a biomedical engineer and Head of School of Engineering & Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London. She has particular expertise in the design and development of in vitro models for use in discovery science or therapeutic testing. With her ASC job share, Professor Martin Knight, she led the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network and now directs the Queen Mary Centre for Predictive in vitro Models. She has particular expertise in the design of musculoskeletal models such as tendon, muscle, bone and cartilage, and also a significant focus on the recapitulation of biophysical environment within a model, looking at ways to control internal mechanical cues such as matrix stiffness, topography, structure as well as the application of external mechanics.

Dr Dharaminder Singh

Dr Dharaminder Singh is an experienced Principal Bioengineer, spearheading consumable and model development at organ-on-a-chip company, CN Bio. His engineering background enables him to solve complex biological questions and tackle challenging tasks through the development of many organ-on-a-chip platforms. Dharaminder has successfully led global collaborations between technology developers, pharmaceutical companies, and academics to create microphysiological systems (MPS). As an MPS and new approach methods (NAMs) advocate he is a part of affiliations working to further the adoption of MPS, standardise MPS technologies, increase regulatory submissions, and develop qualification guidelines. Dharaminder Singh studied an MEng in Biomaterials Science and Tissue Engineering and obtained a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Sheffield.

Professor Christine J Watson

Christine Watson studied Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow and obtained her PhD in Molecular Genetics at Imperial College London. Following postdoctoral research at St Andrews University and the Roslin Institute Edinburgh, Christine set up her own laboratory researching the transcriptional regulation of milk protein gene expression. Following her appointment by the University of Cambridge in 1998, her research focus was broadened to include the genetic regulation of mammary gland development during pregnancy and lactation and the mechanisms of cell death during post-lactational regression. Her laboratory has also established complex 3D models of mammary gland to reduce the use of animals in research. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017.

Dr Carl Westmoreland

Dr Carl Westmoreland is a toxicologist who retired from Unilever in 2024, where he worked for over 20 years in the Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) in the UK. A large part of his role in Unilever focused on the strategic development and application of the science needed for non-animal, risk-based safety assessments. He received his PhD from the University of Surrey, UK and worked as a toxicologist at GlaxoSmithKline for 10 years.

Carl is a member of the UK NC3Rs NAMs Advisory Group and is a Fellow of the British Toxicology Society. Previously, Carl has worked with several scientific groups relating to the assessment of safety without animal testing, including EPAA, ECETOC, UK NC3Rs, AFSA and Cefic and has been a member of the EURL-ECVAM Scientific Advisory Committee.

Dr Lucy Whitfield

Lucy Whitfield is a veterinary surgeon, focussed on the welfare of animals within the research environment. She is a member of AWERBs for several biomedical research institutes.

An active participant in a number of UK and international working groups, Lucy’s interests include enabling consistent, comprehensive education, training and competence of all those who work with animals, in order that their animals’ needs are better understood and cared for.

Minutes

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Previous minutes are available on the National Archives website.

Subgroup membership

Project Licence Application (PLA) Subgroup

  • Professor David Main (chair)
  • All ASC members are invited to attend

Animal Welfare Ethical Review Body (AWERB) Subgroup

  • Mrs Caroline Chadwick (chair)
  • Mrs Wendy Jarrett
  • Dr Lucy Whitfield
  • Mrs Tina O’Mahony
  • Dr Dharaminder Singh
  • Ms Linda Horan (co-optee)

Project Licence Strategic Review (PLSR) Subgroup

  • Mrs Wendy Jarrett (chair)
  • Professor Christine Watson
  • Professor Jonathan Birch
  • Dr Stuart Greenhill
  • Professor Johanna Gibson
  • Mrs Tina O’Mahony
  • Professor Stephen May

Futures Working Group (FWG)

  • Professor Johanna Gibson (chair)
  • Professor Christine Watson
  • Professor Stephen May
  • Dr Dharaminder Singh
  • Professor Hazel Screen
  • Dr Carl Westmoreland
  • Professor Jonathan Birch

Leading Practice (LP) Subgroup

  • Professor David Main (chair)
  • Professor Martin Knight (deputy chair)
  • Dr Stuart Greenhill
  • Dr Carl Westmoreland
  • Mrs Caroline Chadwick
  • Professor Andrew Jackson
  • Professor Stephen May
  • Dr Lucy Whitfield
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