Abstract
Over the years, FELASA has supported over 30 working groups, covering a wide range of topics, e.g. education and training, ethics, husbandry and care, and health monitoring. Over the years, according to Scopus, the latter theme triggered well over 800 citations of FELASA recommendations.
All working groups start with a suggestion made by a member of the FELASA Board of Management, Executive Committee, working group member, meeting attendee, colleagues … anyone interested in LAS! Suggestions can be sent to secretariat@felasa.eu.
The suggestion is then discussed by the Executive Committee and the Board of Management, who has to approve the concept before it is developed further. Terms of Reference are then written by the proposer or by volunteers from the committees. The Board of Management votes for the final approval of the Terms of Reference.
Now that the concept is well defined and delimited, and objectives are detailed, the member associations nominate candidates for working group membership. Most working groups rely on six to eight members, including one convener. The selection of working group members and convener is made by the FELASA Executive Committee, based on expertise of the candidates and including wide representation of FELASA membership.
The working group can now start; they have 2 years to provide a first draft to FELASA. The internal reviewing process is lengthy since all member associations are given 4–6 weeks to send comments, and a few rounds of comments are often required. At the end, a final draft is sent to Laboratory Animals for Open Access CC BY publication. There are exceptions to the above process when the working group is a collaboration with other associations.
Publications of recommendations often terminate a working group’s activities. However, all working groups are asked to present their findings to a FELASA triennial congress, so that feedback from the community is received, before or after publication.
Very much looking forward to seeing you in Marseille, http://www.felasa2022.eu/ to discuss working group progress!