SCIoI member Christa Thöne-Reineke receives prestigious animal welfare prize

SCIoI Principal Investigator and Executive Board member Christa Thöne-Reineke has been awarded the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize 2026 by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The award recognizes her decades-long commitment to improving animal welfare in scientific research: a commitment that is also closely connected to her work within Science of Intelligence (SCIoI).

How can scientific knowledge be advanced while ensuring that the animals involved in research are treated with the greatest possible care? This question has shaped the work of veterinarian and behavioral biologist Christa Thöne-Reineke for more than three decades.

Now, the German Research Foundation has recognized her contribution with one of Germany’s most significant awards in the field: the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize. Christa, who is Professor of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science at Freie Universität Berlin, shares the €80,000 prize with Birgit Schittek of the University of Tübingen. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin on 2 October 2026.

The prize honors researchers who have made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the 3R principle: Replace, Reduce, Refine. These three aims stand for replacing animal experiments wherever possible, reducing the number of animals used, and refining research methods in order to minimize distress and improve animal welfare.

Christa is being recognized particularly for her work in the area of refinement. Over the course of her career, she has developed methods that make it possible to assess animal welfare and the severity of experimental procedures more objectively and, wherever possible, non-invasively. These include AI-supported approaches that measure behavioral parameters and physical responses without the need for additional interventions.

The jury described the prize as a recognition of a lifetime of work. Christa has consistently worked to integrate animal welfare into research, teaching and institutional practice. She has also contributed her expertise to scientific committees and ethics boards, advised authorities and political decision-makers, and supported the training of young researchers in alternative methods and animal-friendly research practices.

Bringing behavioral biology into the study of intelligence

Within SCIoI, Christa represents the analytical discipline of behavioral biology. As a Principal Investigator, member of the SCIoI Executive Board and Chair of the SCIoI Ethics Board, she contributes extensive expertise in laboratory animal science, animal models and the study of animal behavior, particularly where behavior can provide insights into well-being, distress and the severity of experimental procedures.

Her research within the cluster addresses a fundamental question: what are the costs and benefits of cognition? Intelligence is often discussed in terms of abilities and achievements. But cognitive processes also require resources, and they are influenced by an animal’s emotional state and well-being. Understanding these relationships is essential not only for the study of intelligence, but also for the development of more responsible research practices.

This combination of scientific inquiry and ethical responsibility is central to Christa’s work. Alongside her research, she has been an active advocate for transparent communication about animal experiments and the difficult questions they raise. For her, responsible science requires both rigorous research and an open dialogue with society.

“The Cluster’s active engagement in these conversations reinforces its role in responsible research and the shared vision of advancing science while maintaining the highest ethical standards,” Christa emphasizes.

Her award highlights the importance of this approach. Scientific progress and animal welfare are not opposing goals. By refining methods, examining animal behavior more closely and making welfare measurable, research can become both more ethical and more precise.