Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This talk explores Public Involvement in animal research through the lens of curiosity. It will examine the meeting of public and scientific (in)curiosities around animal research, which modes of curiosity are (un)acceptable, and the tensions of being curious where it may come at a cost.

Paper long abstract

Well-established in health research, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) is emerging as a top-down expectation in preclinical biomedical research. Rather than producing clinical interventions, preclinical research often aims to develop understandings of fundamental biological mechanisms or disease. Though frequently justified as done in the name of publics and patients, such groups are rarely involved in any stage of the research process. Where studies use non-human animals, involvement also materialises against the backdrop of enduring efforts to win public approval for animal research. Questions of who should be involved, what they might contribute to, and what they can change in this controlled and controversial context require specific attention.

Taking curiosity as its starting point, this talk draws on empirical insights from qualitative research with UK scientists, laboratory staff, and publics. Preclinical research is often described as ‘curiosity-driven’, with the generation of new knowledge valued as an end in itself and curiousness held as a scientific virtue. However, public curiosity about preclinical animal use, and how publics might make meaning of the purpose of curiosity in fundamental science, are often regarded with apprehension. Those across the research community also express different modes of (in)curiosity towards societal views of their work. In tracing the role of curiosity in thinking and feeling around the prospect of public involvement in preclinical animal research, this talk asks who is allowed to be curious, which curiosities are made (un)acceptable, and the ethics of being curious where knowing can come at vital cost.