Rachel A. Ankeny is Professor and Chair at WUR, specialising in philosophy and history of the life sciences, philosophy of science in practice, and bioethics. She is particularly interested in the role of animal models in biomedical and toxiocological research, including the social, ethical, and epistemological implications of choice and use. She has ongoing projects on stem cell research norms and practices, and precision toxiocology, with particular focus on collaborative research and different uses of experimental systems.

Gail Davies is a Professor of Human Geography at University of Exeter. She is interested in the geographies of science and technology, connections between human and animal health, and practices of research involvement and responsibility. Gail’s work has focused on developing interdisciplinary approaches to the social and spatial aspects of animal research, and increasingly its replacement, as well as providing guidance to policymakers (via her role on the UK Animals in Science Committee), learned societies (for example the British Pharmacological Society) and funding programmes (most recently via the SNSF NRP79 on Advancing the 3Rs).

Robert Kirk is a historian based in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester (UK). Rob’s research examines the role of animals in human cultures, particularly science, medicine, and health. His interests focus on the historical development of the care, welfare and use of animals in the biomedical sciences, as well as related areas such as the history of the 3Rs. He is Chair of the Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) at the University of Manchester. Rob is currently working on a book charting the history of animal experimentation and the science of animal welfare, titled Reliable Animals, Responsible Scientists: Animal Experiment, Animal Welfare and the Development of the Biomedical Sciences.

Anna Olsson is a researcher and group leader at i3S – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto. Her research focuses on development and promotion of innovative approaches in animal-based research, and the study of the interplay between human and animal health and welfare. The 3Rs principle is a common denominator for this work, including teaching and dissemination. Her research profile is very interdisciplinary, including experimental and epidemiological research into animal welfare, metascientific analyses of animal use in biomedical research, and use of qualitative and quantitative social science research methods into human practice that affects animal welfare. She leads the 3R Knowledge Center, the first of its kind in Portugal. 

Zoë Robaey is an Assistant Professor in Ethics of Technology with the Philosophy Group at Wageningen University with a focus how new biotechnologies come to change practices through concepts of moral imagination, design, and questions of responsibility. In SHAPE, Zoë's work considers responsibility-by-design for organoids and organs-on-a-chip, investigating how responsibility ought to be organized around these new developments. Zoë's work on animal-free alternatives has been concerned with food with a focus on cellular agriculture and precision fermentation.