Regional Committees

Oceania

Our mission

The Oceania Regional Committee is an initiative of ICLAS with the aim of collaborating with the local professionals and associations in the development of Laboratory Animal Science in the region.

The committee is currently identifying the most suitable activities to develop. They are discussing the possibility of enabling educational activities in the region to assist with veterinarians taking up ICLAS Fellowship Grants and have others gain access to training.

Committee Members

Jim Webster (Chair), New Zealand.
Jodi Salinsky, New Zealand.
Patrick Sharp, Australia
Vanessa Borman, New Zealand.
Mike King, New Zealand.
Titus Zindove, New Zealand.

Activities

Openness Statement

Openness is vital to ensure that the public have well-informed, balanced information about the role animal-based research plays in scientific discovery benefiting humans, animals, and the environment.

Knowing how animals are used, how research is regulated, and what researchers, animal ethics committees, and animal care staff do to promote positive animal welfare, decrease the number of animals used, and replace the use of animals is crucial to an informed ethical understanding of animal-based research.

ICLAS Oceania does not conduct animal-based research, but is supporter of the Openness Agreement on Animal Research and Teaching in New Zealand, and the Openness Agreement on Animal Research and Teaching in Australia | ANZCCART | University of Adelaide which we regard as important steps forward for ethical animal-based research. We support all efforts to fulfil and promote the commitments in the Openness Agreements in New Zealand and Australia. We also encourage other organisations to join one of these agreements.

Activities funded by ICLAS:

ANZCCART NZ – to bring an international speaker to the Conference July 2021 in Queenstown here.
See the report of the funded activity here
ANZCCART – to support the development of a competency certification for training and certification in skills concerning the care and use of laboratory animals https://www.adelaide.edu.au/ANZCCAR T/
Oceania Openness Workshops – to support the delivery of workshops across the Oceania region (2023-2024), providing training for researchers, animal care staff, veterinarians, facility managers and communicators to engage confidently with non-scientific audiences about animal research.
See the full project report here