Nuno Franco is a Researcher at the Laboratory Animal Science group. He has a background in both Science Education and Biology, with a 5-year degree in Biology and Geology Education and Teaching (2003), and a 4-year degree in (Animal) Biology (2007) from the University of Trás-os-Montes-e-Alto-Douro. He finished his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Porto in 2012.

His research topics include:

• New technological applications for studying thermal biology of laboratory animals, for health and welfare assessment, and identification of early humane endpoints.
• Methodological quality and predictive value of animal research.
• Animal welfare, animal ethics, and legal, social and scientific issues in animal research.
• Research ethics and integrity
• Science communication and education.
   

Nuno teaches Experimental Design, Laboratory Animal Welfare and the 3Rs, Animal Ethics, and Legislation of Animal Use, in laboratory animal science postgraduate courses at several Portuguese and foreign universities and research institutes. He also organizes courses and workshops on Experimental Design, Systematic Reviews, and Severity Classification of Procedures.

He is:

• President of ETPLAS, the EU Education and Training Platform for Laboratory Animal Science
• Vice-President of the Portuguese Society for Laboratory Animal Science (SPCAL)
• Coordinator of the Portuguese National Network of Animal Welfare Bodies - RedeORBEA
• Board member of Animal Research Tomorrow (former Basel Declaration Society)
• Independent Advisory Board Member of ERINHA-European Research Infrastructure on Highly Pathogenic Agents.
• Ethics Advisory Board member for ISIDORe - Integrated Services for Infectious Disease Outbreak Research
• Ethics and 3Rs Coordinator for COST Action TEATIME “Improving biomedical research by automated behaviour monitoring in the animal home-cage”
• Member of the i3S Animal Welfare and Ethics Body (ORBEA - Órgão Responsável pelo Bem-estar e Ética Animal)
• Member of the FELASA Working Group on Experimental Design
• Scientific coordinator of EU-funded project LAS-Learning
• Co-Principal Investigator of FCT-funded project EVIEDVET

In 2013, he received the UFAW Young Animal Welfare Scientist of the Year Award.