Commentaries on experimenting with openness and engagement

Abstract

This chapter focuses on experimentations with openness and engagement with animal research. It presents three separate commentaries – two from invited respondents to this chapter of the book, and one from the chapter editor. The first commentary is from Bella Lear, a social researcher and science communicator who works to drive and support change in the animal research sector. Her commentary charts changes to the openness agendas in animal research from the perspective of someone closely involved with those changes. She reflects on how the three chapters in this section create new points of entry to discussions about animal research, which can add dynamism to debates. The second commentary is from Louise Mackenzie, an artist who experiments with the imaginative possibilities of extending animal welfare and care to all manner of organisms. This commentary brings artistic practice into conversation with the three chapters, arguing that honesty and truth are at stake in how openness is performed, for whom, and for what purpose. The section editor’s closing commentary looks across all of the book chapters and commentaries, with the aim of identifying key themes. In this final piece, Roe identifies how the contributors have created activities where participants lead in how, where, and when they engage with animal research, rather than being presented with a preformatted vision or version of animal research. These build to reveal the contours of the animal research industry’s contemporary culture of both openness and closedness.

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ORCID for Emma Roe: orcid.org/0000-0003-4674-2133

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