Lush Prize Conference 2021

The Lush Prize is a major initiative aiming to bring forward the day when safety
testing takes place without the use of animals.
It focuses pressure on toxicity testing for consumer products and ingredients,
in a way which complements the many projects already addressing the use ofanimals in medical testing.
A collaboration between Lush Cosmetics and Ethical Consumer Research
Association, it provides £250,000 funding in each prize cycle.

Welcome to the Lush Prize
Conference 2021

W

hile the Lush Prize Conference has become an important partof the Lush Prize events, this year is the first time that we haveorganised a stand-alone conference in a non-prize year.

Last year we held our conference andawards ceremony entirely online andnot only was it well received, withhundreds of people from around theworld attending, it also went
off without any major
technical problems!
To help keep
the discussions
continuing
around ending
animal testing andreplacing it withmore human-relevantscience, we decided
to start organising virtual
conferences in non-prize years. This
also allows us to open up the themeof the conference rather than basing
it around the work of prize winners.
Held over two days, we hope thiswill enable more people to attend,
regardless of their time zone.
At Lush Prize, our awards are focussed
around five areas of work that we

believe are important to encourage
progress in this area: Public Awareness,
Lobbying, Science, Training and Young
Researchers. Our conferences tend
to be very heavy on thescience, so this year wechose the theme of‘the role of publicawareness in thereplacement ofanimals in safety
testing’.
Public awareness isa broad topic - after
all, we are all the public,
whether we are the average
consumer of products, a politician, ascientist or a journalist. Each of us canbecome more aware of animal testing
and replacements and we can inform
others too.
At this conference we will hear fromleading campaigners and scientists

continued on page 43

from around the world about
how they create awareness onthese issues. We have afantastic line up of
speakers from Europe(Belgium, Germany,
Luxembourg, UK),
Latin America(Brazil, Chile), North
America (Canada,
USA) and Asia (South
Korea).
During these presentations
we’ll be hearing whether
regulators and legislators
simply follow public
opinion and whether
scientists educate thepublic around animal
testing, or is it theother way around?
At the end of eachpanel there will be a
Question and Answer
session, so please get engaged andsubmit your questions during the live
sessions.
Our pre-recorded fireside chats werevery popular last year and we havethree more for you this time, including
with Aryenish Birdie, Executive
Director of Encompass, talking
about racial inclusivity in the animal
protection movement.

Session 4 (day 2) is a special panel
looking at the current threats tothe Europe-wide ban on
testing cosmetics andingredients on animals.
If you are an EU
citizen we encourage
you to support the
Citizens’ Initiative
to save cruelty-freecosmetics: click here
for more details.
And you will want to stay
to the end of day two of
the conference where
we’ll be announcing
some exciting news
about the launchof the Lush Prize
1R Network, which
will enable us tobroaden our work
beyond the biennial
prize fund!
Craig Redmond,on behalf of the Lush Prize TeamEU Citizens’ Initiative

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/019/public/4

Agenda - Day One
Wednesday 24 November 2021 (all times are UK times)
13.00: Introduction and Welcome to the Lush Prize Conference 2021 - Rob Harrison

Panel 1: Public Awareness Through Campaigns and Investigations
13.05 - 14.10
Chair: Rebecca Ram, Lush Prize
13.05: Dr Jen Hochmuth, Animal-Free Science, Belgium
Why Public Awareness is the Bottleneck in Ending Animal Testing
13.15: Friedrich Mülln, SOKO Tierschutz, Germany
The Role of Undercover Investigations in Exposing Animal Research
13.25: Camila Cortínez, Te Protejo, Chile
Positive Outreach for Greater Campaigning
13.25 - 14.10: Questions from the floor for a panel discussion
Fireside Chat
14.10 - 14.25
Inclusivity in the Animal Protection Movement
Aryenish Birdie, Executive Director, Encompass. Interviewed by Hilary Pickles,
Lush North America.

5Agenda - Day One - Part Two
Panel 2: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators and Legislators
14.30-15.35
Chair: Rob Harrison, Lush Prize
14.30: Tillly Metz MEP, Luxembourg
Get Loud, Get Involved, Demand Progress
14.40: Borami Seo, Humane Society International, South Korea
Creating Awareness for Political Impact
14.50: Elizabeth Baker, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, USA
Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators and Legislators: A North American
Perspective
15.00-15.35: Questions from the floor for a panel discussion
Dr Luísa Bastos, Animals in Science Programme Leader, Eurogroup for Animals,
will join the Q&A panel in place of Tilly Metz.
Fireside Chat
15.35-15.50
Campaigning for Human-Relevant Science in Australia
Rachel Smith, CEO, Humane Research Australia. Interviewed by Rebecca Ram,
Lush Prize.

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Agenda - Day Two
Thursday 25 November 2021 (all times are UK)
13.00: Introduction and Welcome to day two of the Lush Prize 2021 - Rebecca
Ram
Panel 3: What Role Can the Public Understanding of Science Play inEnding Animal Testing?
13.05 - 14.10
Chair: Rob Harrison, Lush Prize
13.05: Dr Kathrin Herrmann, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, USA
and Animal Protection Commissioner of Berlin, Germany
Title tbc
13.15: Dr Aysha Akhtar, Center for Contemporary Sciences, USA
Why We Need to Change the Narrative on Animal Testing
Unfortunately, Professor Thales Tréz is unable to attend to present, but his placein the Q&A session will be filled by Dr Pranjul Shah
13.35-14.10: Questions from the floor for a panel discussion
Fireside Chat
14.10- 14.25
Good Science is Not a Matter of Opinion
Dr Sonja von Aulock, editor-in-chief of the scientific journal ALTEX.
Interviewed by Dr Gill Langley, Lush Prize Judge.

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Agenda - Day Two - Part Two
Panel 4: REACH, Cosmetics, Current Changes and Their Implications
14.30 - 15.35
Chair: Rebecca Ram, Lush Prize
14.30: Dr Costanza Rovida, CAAT-Europe, Germany
REACH, cosmetics, current changes and their implications
14.40: Troy Seidle, Humane Society International, Canada
Title tbc
14.50: Dr Julia Fentem, Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever,UK
Engaging Citizens With the EU & UK Cosmetics Testing Bans – Again: Safety
Scientists Speaking Up to Suggest Solutions
15.00-15.35: Questions from the floor for a panel discussion
Launch of the Lush Prize 1R Network
15.35 - 15.45: Rob Harrison launches the Lush Prize 1R Network.

8

Speakers A-Z
Aysha Akhtar
Aysha Akhtar, M.D., M.P.H., is the Co-founder, President, andCEO of the Center for Contemporary Sciences, which ispioneering the transition to replace animals in experimentation
with superior human-based testing methods. A military
veteran, she is a double-board certified neurologist andpreventive medicine specialist, with a background in publichealth. Previously, she served as Deputy Director of the U.S.
Army Traumatic Brain Injury Program, developing the Army’s
brain injury prevention and treatment strategies for soldiers. As
a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned
Corps, Dr. Akhtar frequently deployed to assist with national
public health emergencies.
For a decade, Aysha was a Medical Officer at the Foodand Drug Administration, most recently in the Office ofCounterterrorism and Emerging Threats.
Day Two. Panel 3: What Role Can the Public Understanding of Science
Play in Ending Animal Testing?
Presentation: Why We Need to Change the Narrative on Animal Testing

Elizabeth Baker
Elizabeth Baker, Esq., is the Regulatory Policy Director for the
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Elizabeth has
authored numerous science blogs, regulatory petitions,
regulatory comments, op eds, and manuscripts regarding
regulatory policy and innovative human-based science. She
is a member of the California Bar Association, the American
Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology, the Societyof Toxicology, the European Society for Alternatives to Animal
Testing, and the Parenteral Drug Association.
Day Two: Panel 2: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators andLegislators
Presentation: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators and Legislators: A
North American Perspective

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Luísa Bastos
Dr Luísa Bastos is the Animals in Science Programme Leader
at Eurogroup for Animals, where she coordinates a working
group of 30 European NGOs and participates in EU fora topromote a transition to non-animal science. Previously, she
was Principal Investigator of the modelling and simulation
research group at the Institute of Research and Innovation for
Healthcare, and Invited Professor at the University of Porto.
She is specialised in in-silico modelling of human physiology
and pharmacology for healthcare education and training.
This year, she coordinated the working group of the European
Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation ofAnimals, Chaired by MEP Tilly Metz, leading to the adoption of
a Resolution calling on the Commission to draw up an action
plan to actively phase out the use of animals in science.
As an animal advocate, she has influenced laws and policies
restricting the use of animals in entertainment and education,and the breeding of animals for scientific procedures.
Day One. Panel 2: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators andLegislators
Luísa will attend the Q&A Panel in place of Tilly Metz

Aryenish Birdie
Aryenish Birdie is the founder and executive director ofEncompass, a nonprofit working to make the animal protection
movement more racially diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Prior
to Encompass, Aryenish spent seven years at the PhysiciansCommittee for Responsible Medicine promoting alternatives
to animal tests.
Aryenish received a degree from Hampshire College in criticalsocial thought/race and feminist theory and a Master’s in Public
Management from Johns Hopkins University.
Fireside Chat: Inclusivity in the Animal Protection Movement
Day 1, following Session 1

10Camila Cortínez
Camila Cortínez is the General Director and Founder of
ONG Te Protejo, Chile. Camila has more than ten years ofexperience in project management and development, and inleadership of non-governmental organisations. She has been
selected as a young entrepreneur in Youth Action Net Chile,
Young Leaders of “El Mercurio” and Young Leaders of theAmericas Initiative YLAI. In addition, she has won, together
with ONG Te Protejo, the Lush Prize 2017 Public Awarenessaward, and the Awards VIVA Schmidheiny as an NGO withenvironmental impact, in 2019, and adaptation to the crisis in
2020.
Day One. Panel 1: Public Awareness Through Campaigns andInvestigations
Presentation: Positive Outreach for Greater Campaigning

Julia Fentem
Julia is head of Unilever’s safety and environmental sciencesgroup. She has worked on alternatives to animal testingfor 30 years, starting her career with FRAME in 1991 after
completing a PhD in biochemical toxicology at the Universityof Nottingham Medical School. Julia led the validation andregulatory acceptance of non-animal tests for skin corrosion
and irritation whilst working at ECVAM, before moving to lead
Unilever’s programme on product safety without animal testing.
A recipient of the prestigious Russell and Burch award in2011 for her contributions to the advancement of alternative
methods, Julia is a leading advocate for applying modern
animal-free science in ensuring chemicals are safe andsustainable without animal testing.
Day Two. Panel 4: REACH, cosmetics, current changes and theirimplications
Presentation: Engaging Citizens With the EU & UK Cosmetics Testing
Bans – Again: Safety Scientists Speaking Up to Suggest Solutions

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Kathrin Herrmann
Kathrin is a veterinary expert in animal welfare science, ethics,
and law. She works at the Johns Hopkins University Center for
Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), where she directs the
Beyond Classical Refinement Program. The Program addresses
the reproducibility and translatability crises that science isfacing and scrutinises current animal use practices in science.
With teaching the next generation of scientists being a focus,
Kathrin is involved in several international initiatives to improveand extend humane, human-relevant science education.
In November 2020, Kathrin on took an additional role as theAnimal Protection Commissioner of Berlin, Germany, in which
she advises the government and citizens of Berlin on various
animal protection issues.
Day Two. Panel 3: What Role Can the Public Understanding of Science
Play in Ending Animal Testing?
Presentation: How to Foster the Public’s Solidarity with Non-Human
Animals Used in Science

Jen Hochmuth
Jen Hochmuth holds a B.Sc (Hons) in Marine Biology anda PhD in environmental toxicology. After her studies, she
worked as an environmental toxicologist on the preparation ofregistration dossiers requiring chemical safety assessments inview of the EU REACH regulation.
In January 2019, she started her current position with Animal
Rights, an animal protection group active in the Netherlands
and Belgium. She coordinates the campaigns ‘Replace Animal
Testing’ and ‘Animal Free Science’ for Animal Rights in Belgium.
Day One. Panel 1: Public Awareness Through Campaigns andInvestigations
Presentation: Why Public Awareness is the Bottleneck in Ending Animal
Testing12Tillly Metz
Tilly Metz has been the Luxembourgish Member of theEuropean Parliament (MEP) for the Greens/EFA group since
2018. Prior to this she was a teacher, a local councillor in thecity of Luxembourg and, from 2005 to 2011, mayor of Weilerla-Tour.
She serves as the Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s
Animals in Science Working Group of the Intergroup on
the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and is a memberof several other groups, including the Committee on theEnvironment, Public Health and Food Safety.
Tilly is President of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of
Luxembourg and a member of the National Council for the
Disabled.
Day One. Panel 2: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators andLegislators
Presentation: Get Loud, Get Involved, Demand Progress

Friedrich Mülln
Friedrich Mülln is the founder of SOKO Tierschutz, a Germanorganisation specialising in undercover investigations to expose
animal cruelty. In 2003, Friedrich spent four months working
undercover in the primate toxicity testing lab Covance,
revealing the first covert photos of primate experiments inGermany.
SOKO conducted an undercover investigation in 2014 at the
Max Planck Institute Tübingen, for which it won the Lush Prize
for Public Awareness the following year.
In 2020, SOKO again won the Public Awareness Prize for acovert investigation at the Laboratory of Pharmacology and
Toxicology in Mienenbüttel. The expose led to the lab being
raided by police and having to hand over all animals to suitable
third parties.
Day One. Panel 1: Public Awareness Through Campaigns andInvestigations
Presentation: The Role of Undercover Investigations in Exposing Animal
Research13

Costanza Rovida
Dr Costanza Rovida is Scientific Officer at CAAT-Europe(Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing), where she is
responsible for the acceptance of non-animal methods forregulatory purposes. She also works at TEAM Mastery as
Senior Regulatory Specialist where she has an active role in
the preparation of dossiers with risk assessment of chemical
substances.
Costanza gained a degree in Chemistry and she is now listed
in the European Register of Certified Toxicologists (ERT). In
the period 2005-2008, she worked at EURL-ECVAM.
She has many publications in peer review journals on thetheme of regulatory use of non-animal methods.
Day Two. Panel 4: REACH, cosmetics, current changes and theirimplications
Presentation: REACH, cosmetics, current changes and their implications

Troy Seidle
Troy Seidle is Vice President, Research and Toxicology at
Humane Society International (HSI), where he leads HSI’s
global team of campaigners, lobbyists and scientists working to
end animal testing with advanced non-animal approaches.
Troy possesses extensive specialist knowledge of current
and emerging testing and research methodologies, legal andregulatory frameworks across numerous countries and sectors.
Troy has served on numerous high-level policy committees
and expert groups at national and international levels, including
those of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment, the European Union (CARACAL, ECHA, EFSA,EURL-ECVAM), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Health Canada, the New Zealand Ministry of Health, andothers. He is also a member of the Lush Prize judging panel.
Day Two. Panel 4: REACH, cosmetics, current changes and theirimplications

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Borami Seo
Borami is the Interim Executive Director and Senior Policy
Manager at Humane Society International/Korea. With 14 yearsof experience focusing on legislative campaigns and policychanges for animal welfare and humane science, Borami has
hosted numerous political and public forums with internationaland regional lawmakers, governments, and stakeholders. This
contributed to achieving multiple policy and law reforms.
She has given presentations at government workshops andacademic conferences and participated in expert meetings
for animal welfare policy and advancing modern science withhuman-relevant approaches.
The Good Company Guide campaign that Borami led withover 40 multi/national companies, to end cosmetics animal
testing, was introduced as a successful project that brought a
positive contribution to society by the Seoul City NPO Centre.
Day One Panel 2: Creating Awareness Amongst Regulators andLegislators
Presentation: Creating Awareness for Political Impact

Pranjul ShahDr Pranjul Shah heads the University of Luxembourg Incubator,
which is the hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He also
invented a number of award-winning technologies leading tomultiple patents and numerous scientific and business awards.
Pranjul is the inventor of HuMiX gut on a chip system, whichmakes it possible to probe the human gut in relation to the gut
bacteria (microbiome) and their role in our health and disease.
HuMiX was awarded the Outstanding Scientific Publication as
well as Outstanding Research-Driven Innovation awards by the
National Research Fund of Luxembourg.
Pranjul won a Lush Prize Young Researcher award in 2016 andserved as a Judge for the 2020 Awards.
Day Two. Panel 3: What Role Can the Public Understanding of Science
Play in Ending Animal Testing?
Pranjul will take part in the Q&A session of this panel.

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Rachel Smith
Rachel Smith is the CEO of Humane Research Australia, apost she began in May 2020, following six months work as theCampaigns and Communications Manger.
Rachel holds a MSc in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and
Law from the University of Winchester, during which she
undertook her dissertation project on Freedom of Information
Legislation and Animal Research.
Rachel has been committed to various animal welfare causes
since a young age. During her career she has worked forNGOs in the animal welfare and conservation fields, in Europe,
Asia and Australia, as well as employment in the community
sector for local, state and federal Government.
Fireside Chat: Campaigning for Human-Relevant Science in Australia
Day 1, following Session 2

Sonja von Aulock
Dr Sonja von Aulock is editor-in-chief of the scientific journal
ALTEX – Alternatives to Animal Experiments and its sisterjournal ALTEX Proceedings, as well as CEO of the Swiss notfor-profit society ALTEX Edition, which publishes both journals.
She studied biology at the University of Konstanz, Germany,obtained her PhD in biochemical pharmacology, and led ajunior research group on microbial profiling before joining
ALTEX Edition as a professional editor. She is on the board of
the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT)-Europe
and on the steering committee for the Microphysiological
Systems (MPS) World Summit. Under her leadership, ALTEX
received a Commendation from the Lush Prize in the Public
Awareness category in 2016.
Fireside Chat: Good Science in Not a Matter of Opinion
Day 2, following Session 3

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The Lush Prize would like to thankMark and Mo Constantine of Lush.
The Lush Prize Management Team:
Hilary Jones, Karl Bygrave, Karen Huxley, and Kirsty Barnes from Lush; andCraig Redmond, Rob Harrison, Rebecca Ram and Alex Crumbie from EthicalConsumer.
Ellen Logan and Jess James for the technical support.
...and every single person who has played, and continues to play, a part in theinter-linked movements for animal compassion and scientific rigour.
Photo credits: Lush Prize; Te Protejo (page 3); HSI/South Korea (page 4); Dr Marize Valadares (page 4); SOKO
Tierschutz (page 5); Te Protejo (page 6).

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