Workshops
Registration for wokshops will be open soon.
ECLAM Workshop - Vets present your case!
"Vets present your case" is a workshop for veterinarians who work or wish to work in the field of laboratory animal science and medicine, designed and hosted by the European College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ECLAM).
The workshop was inaugurated during the 2025 FELASA Congress. It aims to address key points of veterinary advice offered by laboratory animal veterinarians while performing their designated veterinarian or clinical veterinarian duties. An introductory presentation entitled "Veterinary consultation on laboratory animal care and use" (Argyro Zacharioudaki) sets the framework of veterinary advice on animal care and use and underlines legal requirements and the stages of project design and implementation and overall establishment operation where the veterinarian can offer valuable input and oversight in order to ensure animal welfare. This is followed by group work on solving three selected real case scenarios.
During group work participants are asked to consider aspects of veterinary consultation and communication while advising for refinement and treatment. Group work discussions and "solutions" are presented to all participants at a final discussion facilitated by the veterinarian who shared the original scenario (3 case presenters & case titles TBC).
ESLAV-ECLAM Workshop: Designated Veterinarian from Policy to Practice
The Directive 2010/63/EU states in its article 25 that the Designated Veterinarian (DV) has advisory duties in relation to the wellbeing and treatment of the animals. However, the tasks and the role itself of the DV are not harmonized across Europe. The goal of this workshop is to highlight the challenges and situations that DVs face in their daily job, especially in central and east European countries. Participants will also be invited to actively discuss specific situations they have encountered in their own role. The workshop aims to facilitate the creation of a network of DVs working in central and eastern Europe, that will provide support and mentorship to help them in their daily work. The audience is expected to be veterinarians, mainly in the role of DV, from different countries.
FELASA: Severity workshop
Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes entered into force in Member States on January 1 , 2013. It requires that experiments be designed to cause the least pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm to the animals used and requests that all procedures be assigned a severity classification in advance of the procedure being performed.
Moreover, new requirements for non-technical summaries will, in the very near future, also ask prospectively for the inclusion of a ‘best estimate’ of the actual, number of animals in each severity classification of a given project. It goes without saying that, in the annual Statistical returns to be reported, the exact number of animals must be classified, based on the actual experienced severity.
This actual severity of any previous procedure is also a key consideration in determining whether or not an animal can be re-used in further procedures. The implementation of a severity classification process, both prospectively and on the completion of studies, thus is a big challenge in animal studies as it entails legal and ethical implications. Having a very good understanding of how to judge severity classification is a paramount feature for properly evaluating research projects with regards to their prospective severity classification and so as to implement procedures with the least harmful effects on animals (refinement), and keep the level of severity of procedures to the lowest possible.
Reporting of actual severity helps to refine similar procedures going forward and improves communication with the public by providing a more detailed picture of what animals experience during procedures. The animal models used in this workshop will be based on commonly used animal species used in Scientific procedures, and will address the three steps described in the document of the Commission’s Expert Working Group which was endorsed by the National Competent Authorities in 2012: designing the project, monitoring it when it is performed and assessing the outcomes after it has ended. Consistency of severity classification across Member States is of the utmost importance to harmonise project licensing and reporting.
Therefore, the European Commission has encouraged FELASA to perform Workshops on Severity Classification of Procedures, that could be held in the Various Member States. The Workshop gives you an introduction to what must be done, and how to evaluate severity.
FELASA Severity Classification and Reporting under Directive 2010/63/EU - a Train the Trainer Workshop
Directive 2010/63/EU introduced the requirement for the classification of procedures (Article 15) during the application for project authorisation to use animals in scientific procedures. It also introduced the requirement to report the actual severity experienced by each animal used in a procedure. Both these processes provide opportunity to refine the adverse effects of procedures. Consistency of assignment of severity categories across Member States is a key requirement to promote harmonization in animal use and statistical reporting. The FELASA Severity Classification Working Group (SWG), who have developed additional guidance and examples of severity assignment, has hosted a number of successful workshops (WS) in many Member States and since 2016 at FELASA Congresses. It remains clear at these workshops that there remain significant misunderstandings of the severity framework as set out in the Directive, and that further workshops would be helpful across the EU Member States (MS) to continue to promote a consistent approach to severity assessment and reporting and as a consequence improve animal welfare.
This WS aims at training people to be able to deliver Severity Classification WS to a high standard utilising well-established validated models of animals used in scientific procedures, to develop a common understanding of classification and reporting across EU.
Target Audience: People who are experienced with severity classification of procedures and willing to help others to become proficient in this matter and have previously participated in one of the FELASA Severity Classification Workshops given over the last years.
