Welcome to the Royal Entomological Society Insect Welfare and Best Practices page
This page will serve as the central hub for results, resources, and updates from our ongoing insect ethics and welfare project.
Insects are central to scientific research, ecosystem functioning, and global food production. As our understanding of their behaviour, physiology, and potential sentience advances, it becomes increasingly important to apply consistent and ethical practices in their care and use within research. The Royal Entomological Society (RES) is committed to promoting the ethical treatment of insects, ensuring that all research adheres to high standards of welfare while maintaining the integrity and reliability of scientific findings.
The RES acknowledges the growing body of evidence suggesting that insects exhibit complex behaviours and responses to stimuli, which warrants careful consideration of their welfare in scientific contexts. While the extent of their sentience is an ongoing area of study, it is important that we recognise the responsibility researchers have to minimise harm and ensure that their use in research is conducted ethically. Standardising best practices for insect care and handling ensures consistency and reduces the potential for harm, thereby contributing to more robust, reproducible research outcomes.
The recent inclusion of decapods, such as crabs and lobsters, under the UK’s Animal Sentience Act highlights the evolving understanding of animal sentience. While insects are not yet formally included under such legislation, public perception of their sentience is shifting.
This growing awareness brings increased responsibility to researchers and industries working with insects to adopt practices that respect their welfare. The RES advocates for continued dialogue on the ethical treatment of insects in research, recognising that evolving scientific understanding may reshape the way we approach their care and use in the future.
Our Research
One of our core aims is to determine the current procedures in place, which involves reaching out to universities to assess how many include insects as part of their ethics applications. To date, we have received responses from 66% of universities, with 50% of universities already incorporating insects into their ethics procedures. This data highlights both the progress made and the need for further engagement and support to ensure that insect welfare is consistently considered across all research institutions.
The work conducted by entomologists is extremely diverse, ranging from ecological research and pest management to biomedical applications and insect farming. This breadth of research should be celebrated and we are striving to ensure that the needs, challenges, and perspectives of all researchers are sufficiently represented. We need a comprehensive understanding of the wide variety of ways in which insects are used in research, so we can develop resources that truly meet the needs of the community.
As part of our commitment to supporting entomologists, we are identifying and developing resources that will be valuable to researchers working with insects. To help us understand the specific needs of the community, we ran a survey to help guide the development of useful tools and best practice guidelines.
Results of the Great Welfare Survey 2025
…Due soon!
In total we received 144 responses to our survey.
Thank you to everyone that took the time to take part.
Findings and resources from the survey will be hosted here and highlighted in our newsletter.
The RES is dedicated to supporting entomologists across all disciplines by providing resources and guidance on best practices for insect welfare, helping to ensure that research is both scientifically rigorous and ethically sound.
Resources
Coming soon:
- CPD Course for Entomologists working with Insects in Research
- Video Series for Ethics Panel members
- Example Ethics Template
- Colony Insect Welfare Log Template
- Example Distress Scoring Sheet Template
External Resources
Reading
ASAB Ethical Committee/ABS Animal Care Committee. (2024). Guidelines for the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals in behavioural research and teaching. Animal Behaviour, 207, I-XI. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(23)00317-2
Adamo, S., 2016. Do insects feel pain? A question at the intersection of animal behaviour, philosophy and robotics. Animal Behaviour 118: 75–79.
Adamo, S., 2019. Is it pain if it does not hurt? On the unlikelihood of insect pain. The Canadian Entomologist 151: 685–695.
Andrews K, et. al., 2024. The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration
Baker, R.M., Jenkin, G., Mellor, D.J., Eds.; Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching: Glen Osmond, Australia, pp. 3–18.
Barrett, M., and Fischer, B., 2023. Challenges in farmed insect welfare: Beyond the question of sentience. Animal Welfare 32: e4.
Barrett, M., Fischer, B., and Buchmann, S., 2023. Informing policy and practice on insect pollinator declines: Tensions between conservation and animal welfare. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1071251.
Beauchamp, T. L., & DeGrazia, D. (2020). Principles of animal research ethics. Oxford University Press.
Birch, Jonathan (2017) Animal sentience and the precautionary principle. Animal Sentience 16(1)
Birch, J., 2022. The search for invertebrate consciousness. Noûs 56: 133–153.
Cait, J., Cait, A., Wilder Scott, R., Winder, C.B., and Mason, G.J., 2022. Conventional laboratory housing increases morbidity and mortality in research rodents: Results of a meta-analysis. BMC Biology 20: 15.
Chittka L., 2023. The inner lives of insects. Scientific American, 32991):26-33
Cooper J. (2011). Anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia of invertebrates. ILAR Journal, 52: 196-204.
Crump, A., Gibbons, M., Barrett, M., Birch, J., and Chittka, L., 2023. Is it time for insect researchers to consider their subjects’ welfare? PLoS Biology 21: e3002138.
Cuff, J.P., Barrett, M., Gray, H., Fox, C., Watt, A., and Aimé, E., 2024. The case for open research in entomology: Reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science. Agricultural and Forest Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12617
Durosaro, S.O. & Barrett, M. (2024) Scoping review (2019 to 2024) suggests significant variation in, and poor reporting of, anesthesia practices in model insects. PrePrint
Fischer B, Barrett M, Adcock S, Barron A, Browning H, Chittka L, Crump A, Drinkwater E, Gibbons M, Haverkamp A, Perl C. (2024). Guidelines for protecting and promoting insect welfare in research. Insect Welfare Research Society. Retrieved from: insectwelfare.com/research-guidelines
Freelance, C.B., 2019. To regulate or not to regulate? The future of animal ethics in experimental research with insects. Science and Engineering Ethics 25: 1339-1355.
Gibbons, M., Crump, A., Barrett, M., Sarlak, S., Birch, J. and Chittka, L., 2022. Chapter Three – Can insects feel pain? A review of the neural and behavioural evidence. Advances in Insect Physiology. Academic Press, pp. 155–229.
Gibbons M., Sarlak S. & Chittka L., 2022. Descending control of nociception in insects? Proc. R. Soc. B 289 (1978). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0599
Gibbons M., Versace E., Crump A., Baran B. & Chittka L., 2022. Motivational trade-offs and modulation of nociception in bumblebees. PNAS 119 (31). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205821119
Gibbons, M., Pasquini, E., Kowalewska, A., Read, E., Gibson, S., Crump, A., Solvi, C., Versace, E., Chittka, L., 2024. Noxious stimulation induces self-protective behavior in bumblebees. iScience DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110440
Klein, C., and Barron, A.B., 2016. Insects have the capacity for subjective experience. Animal Sentience 1 https://doi.org/10.51291/2377-7478.1113.
Lambert, H., Elwin, A. and D’Cruze, N., 2021. Wouldn’t hurt a fly? A review of insect cognition and sentience in relation to their use as food and feed. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 243: 105432–105432.
Lövei GL, Ferrante M. (2024). The use and prospects of non-lethal methods in entomology. Annual Review of Entomology, 69: 183-198
Mellor, D.J., and Reid, C.S.W. 1994. Concepts of animal well-being and predicting the impact of procedures on experimental animals. In Improving the Well-being of Animals in the Research Environment; Baker, R.M., Jenkin, G., Mellor, D.J., Eds.; Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching: Glen Osmond, Australia, pp. 3–18.
Mendl, M., Paul, E.S., & Chittka, L. (2011). Animal Behaviour: Emotion in Invertebrates? Current Biology, 21: D463-D465
Mikhalevich, I., and Powell, R., 2020. Minds without spines: Evolutionarily inclusive animal ethics. Animal Sentience 29: 10.51291/2377-7478.1527.
Montero-Castaño, A., Koch, J. B. U., Lindsay, T.-T.T., Love, B., Mola, J. M., Newman, K., & Sharkey, J. K. (2022). Pursuing best practices for minimizing wild bee captures to support biological research. Conservation Science and Practice, 4(7), e12734. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12734
NC3Rs. 2023. “The 3Rs.” https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/who-we-are/3rs
Lynch CM, Perl CD. (2024). Power analyses by simulation. Insect Welfare Research Society. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19753.36967
Palmer et al. (2020). Animal Research beyond the Laboratory: Report from a Workshop on Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs) in the UK. Animals, 10(10), 1868. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101868
Perl, CD. (2023) Power analyses and estimating sample sizes. Insect Welfare Research Society. DOI: 10.12140/RG.2.2.11998.61768
Sandhi, R.K., Pickens, V., Bello, E., Elzay, S., Salgado, S., Hauri, K.C., Ternest, J.J., Constancio, N., Gula, S., Gearner, O.M., Anderson, M., Edeburn, M., Hall, B., Maille, J., Toth, M., Khadka, A., Doherty, E., Musgrove, T., Silva, T., Desoto, A., Rampone, E., Jocson, D., Luppino, M., Pautzke, K., Wagstaff, C., 2023. Entomology beyond research and education: 2022 student debates. Journal of Insect Science 23: 10.1093/jisesa/iead036.
Solvi C., Baciadonna L. & Chittka L. (2016). Unexpected rewards induce dopamine-dependent positive emotion–like state changes in bumblebees. Science 353(6307):1529-1531; DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4454
Wahlnitz SJ, Harms CA, Lewbart GA. (2023). “Anesthesia and analgesia in invertebrates.” In Dyson et al. Anesthesia and analgesia in laboratory animals, (3rd edition). Academic Press.
Wolfensohn, S. & Lloyd, M., (2003) Handbook of Laboratory Animal Management and Welfare. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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