Morning, Monday, 29th June 2026
Online
This conference will explore next steps for transitioning to non-animal methods in science in the UK, with discussion on implementation of the Government’s Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods published in November 2025.
It will bring together stakeholders and policymakers to explore priorities and practicalities for accelerating the use of NAMs while maintaining confidence in patient safety, regulatory reliability, and scientific standards, as well as continuing progress on animal welfare.
The strategy’s proposed governance and delivery framework will be assessed, including priorities for the new Alternative Methods Committee, cross-government coordination, phased milestones, and the development of metrics and reporting arrangements for tracking progress. As implementation begins, discussion will draw out latest thinking on key issues across research funding, regulatory practice and the role of the MHRA’s new early access scheme, validation and data infrastructure, skills and training, and practical implications for organisations across the life sciences sector. Questions around investment, adoption and delivery plans will also be discussed.
Innovation, funding, adoption & workforce capability
Delegates will consider priorities for innovation and funding allocation, including implications for smaller companies and academic labs facing high validation costs or uneven access to infrastructure. Practical adoption requirements will be considered for technologies such as AI-enabled modelling, organ-on-a-chip systems and 3D bioprinting, alongside options for addressing disparities in access between major pharmaceutical companies, SMEs and the wider research base.
Discussion will also explore demand‑side incentives, including procurement levers, NHS adoption pathways and technology assessment expectations, and how these affect demand for NAMs and their use across procurement, clinical and research settings. Delegates will consider issues relating to IP, data‑sharing and commercial sensitivity, including potential tensions between open validation datasets and proprietary platforms, and implications for collaboration and evidence generation.
We expect discussion on workforce capability and training, including the role of NC3Rs-led programmes, and the skills needed across research, regulation and commercialisation, as well as priorities for supporting career pathways as NAM use expands.
Regulation, validation & evidence
Further sessions will examine pathways for scaling NAMs, including validation processes, regulatory acceptance, and the use of data to support evidence generation and regulatory submissions. It will be an opportunity to discuss the MHRA’s early access scheme, including how it is being used in practice and considerations for supporting developer confidence in the use of non-animal data, in the context of regulatory expectations for safety, effectiveness and evidential robustness.
With the new UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods and £75m allocated for a national translational models hub and towards accelerating validation, attendees will consider possible approaches to improving coordination across regulatory bodies and increasing consistency in validation and acceptance processes, as well as options for addressing validation barriers in the UK and internationally.
Discussion is expected on alignment of UK guidelines with international standards, opportunities for earlier engagement between developers, industry and regulators, and requirements for wider use of NAMs in areas where some animal data may still be needed for comparison or complex endpoints.
Attendees will also consider how best to support confidence in reliability, reproducibility and safety during the transition, including how evidence is assessed and applied in regulatory decision-making, while responding to calls for faster reductions in severe procedures where feasible.
The transition period and dual‑running costs will be explored, including operational and financial implications for organisations required to maintain both animal and non‑animal systems during early adoption, and expectations around how long such arrangements may be required. Sessions will also consider how NAM uptake interacts with ASPA licensing, including evolving expectations for evidence of no viable alternative, and implications for inspectors, ethics committees and licence holders.
Strategy, oversight & delivery
Sessions will examine the Replacing animals in science strategy’s phased milestones and what will be required across government, regulators, funders, industry and research institutions for effective implementation and oversight. Areas for discussion include accountability mechanisms, escalation routes where milestones are not met, and clarity on departmental responsibility for delivery, as well as the role of publishers, journals and learned societies in contributing to the development of evidence norms, peer‑review literacy and acceptance of NAM‑only.
The agenda will also look at wider issues around the pace and sequencing of reform, including differing views on whether the roadmap should move towards a firmer long-term phase-out framework, and how ethical concerns, operational constraints and scientific uncertainty should be addressed as policy develops. We also expect this to include discussion on options for support or incentives for universities, publishers and funders as wider use of non-animal approaches moves forward, as well as practicalities of change for parts of the research system where animal methods continue to play a role.
International alignment, competitiveness & stakeholder engagement
The conference will focus on how the UK positions itself internationally as regulatory frameworks and levels of investment in NAMs develop in other jurisdictions, including developments in the United States and OECD guidelines. Approaches to international cooperation will be assessed, looking at alignment to reduce duplicative testing, and implications for innovation and competitiveness in life sciences in the context of maintaining ethical and scientific standards.
Public engagement and transparency will also be discussed, including how the roadmap relates to wider life sciences policy, approaches to communicating developments in the use of NAMs, and maintaining confidence among researchers, patients, investors and animal welfare organisations.
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates. As well as key stakeholders, those already due to attend include officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, NI; Department of Health and Social Care; Department for Business and Trade; Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; Health and Safety Executive; House of Commons Library; Office for Life Sciences; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Office for Investment; and Home Office.
