This is an interesting (in more than one way) conference that I’ve attended twice before (it’s held every 3 years). In my experience, it is more of a conference on Replacement alternatives to animals than Refinement alternatives, and the focus on Replacement has been heavily biased towards animal testing (toxicology etc). Whereas I obviously think it’s great that animal tests are being replaced, I don’t really have any scholarly interest in toxicology tests. But this year I have a particular reason for wanting to be present in a Replacement context: we have a project just starting on organoids and other advanced 3D models for research. This would also be a great chance for our newly hired junior researcher and project manager to get a peek into the alternatives research community. I really should discuss with my team what to present. Maastricht is a lovely city too.