ASPIS Academy Interview: Dylan Underhill

Dylan Underhill joined the ASPIS Academy career development interview series during the inaugural Career Development Session for Early Stage Researchers in January 2024. This inspiring event showcased four diverse career paths, guiding young researchers in making informed decisions about their future and how they can contribute to the development, use, and implementation of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for chemical safety assessment. In this interview, Eliska Kuchovska (ONTOX) talks with Dylan about his dedication to ending animal testing, the campaigns he’s currently leading, and the crucial role young scientists play in advancing the adoption of NAMs. Dive into the article to learn more!

What attracted you to work in an NGO?

I spoke about the importance of aligning your actions with your values during my original presentation. It’s this consideration which is at the heart of my decision to work for an NGO. My past three places of employment have been with NGOs, but prior to that, I worked in the private sector for a political comms agency. I enjoyed the work because I’m obsessed with politics, and I learnt a lot, but at the end of the day, I’m mission-driven and making money is not a mission that inspires me. I’m not opposed to working in the private sector again, but it would have to be for a company that delivers a product that I care about and which I believe adds value to the world.

What skills (technical and interpersonal) are most needed to succeed in this sector?

In my line of work it helps to have a good knowledge of political institutions and a good instinct for political analysis. This is the kind of thing that comes with time and close attention (reading, podcasts, debating etc.). I’m lucky that politics excites me so I spend most of my time thinking about it whether I’m working or not, so it’s never felt like a big effort.

Technical knowledge in your particular sector is clearly important so you have to put in the effort to keep up to speed. However, my job is to direct political strategy and contribute to policy discussions. I’m not required to be an expert on the science. Luckily, we have scientists who hold that knowledge. It’s worth noting that in some organisations with smaller teams, people can often double up and perform what you might call a ‘policy advocate role’. This is a kind of hybrid role that draws more on policy knowledge than in pure public affairs roles. Someone transitioning from a scientific background may find this kind of role an interesting option.

Besides political knowledge, building and maintaining networks is the most important skill for success in public affairs. Interpersonal skills, good communication, a proactive and outgoing nature, and the ability to spot potential leads are all part of the ideal package.

What does your typical day look like?

Each day to the next can vary quite wildly depending on the political calendar, current affairs events, and other variables outside of your control. For this reason, I spend a lot of my time developing and writing long-term strategy so that we have clear objectives for the next 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. In this way, we ensure that when faced with the ups and downs of politics, we have a steady horizon for which to aim. That being said there are some regular activities that tend to fill up my week.

I start the day with emails (don’t we all?) and a comprehensive rundown of the early morning news updates. Things can happen overnight that drive the day, so it’s important to be aware of any developments.

We try to keep up a steady flow of activities that all require developing, drafting, updating and launching. This means that I regularly contribute to writing campaign materials, social media output, newsletters, etc.

The mainstay of our engagement with politicians is the operation of a regular programme of meetings. To facilitate this, I regularly work with colleagues to engineer opportunities to hook politicians into our issue: a new paper, a PR, or an event, which we then reach out to politicians off the back of. With luck and persistence, these lead to meetings that, over time, establish a strong network of engaged and supportive politicians.

I work with science colleagues to devise strategy, develop amendments and deliver a lobbying approach when key pieces of legislation are being introduced or amended.

A significant element of my role is to maintain relationships with other organisations in the sector and to help facilitate work that we do in collaboration. I spend several hours a week attending meetings related to this work every week.

I support our CEO in managing the Cruelty Free Europe partnership by liaising with member organisations on political matters, supporting the delivery of events and generally working towards building the capacity of member organisations to deliver our shared mission.

Other elements include writing parliamentary questions for politicians, drafting interventions for parliamentary debates, drafting blogs, supporting our CEO to deliver our political strategy in different forums, drafting policy papers, devising and delivering media stunts, to name just a few.

Can you describe the type of projects you work on? 

To give you a flavour, here are some of the projects I am currently working on:

• Detergents: The Detergents regulation is currently undergoing revision, and we have been working with MEP Manuela Ripa to ensure that the amended regulation includes the strongest possible prohibition of animal testing. This includes commenting on proposed amendments, proposing our own amendments, and providing research and argumentation on key topics.
• UK General Election: We have been gearing up for the UK election for some time now. In preparation, we have developed a campaign pack for our supporters, which will include resources that they can download and use to bring the campaign to end animal testing to their communities and make the issue an electorally significant one.
• Pledge campaigns: In both the UK and EU we are running campaigns to encourage politicians and prospective candidates to endorse a series of policies that would bring about an end to the use of animals in science.

What is rewarding in your job, and what do you have to compromise on?

I find the day to day work rewarding in itself. Having the opportunity of reading, writing and talking about politics and animal protection as a job is very rewarding.

Aside from that, the reward comes from seeing impact. Ultimately, we want to see the rules that govern the use of animals in science changed, and ultimately, the practice ended completely. Any step towards that which I have played a role in achieving is massively rewarding. Unfortunately, in all campaigning, this can be quite a rare occurrence. This is why I come back to the values thing time and again. You need to have a ‘why’ to get you up in the morning when the work is tough, as it sometimes can be.

The people are rewarding too. Working alongside people with similar values is very motivating. Knowing that you share a mission lends itself to a very positive working environment where people have each other’s backs and pull in the same direction to get a lot of work done with limited time and resources.

How do you continue learning and developing?

The first thing is to acknowledge that you are always able to improve and learn more. If you are open to the fact that you are not a finished product then you will be more attuned to opportunities for learning and development when they arise.

We should always try to be proactive about personal and professional development but formal trainings can be difficult to get right. Definitely take advantage of training budgets, but for me the best learning happens in the places that you least expect it. My recommendation is to always be taking opportunities to expand your network, do new things, and try to stretch the envelope of what counts as ‘relevant to your work’. Meeting new people and doing new things is fun and you never know how people and ideas will come in useful down the line. I have always operated in this way, and I now know people I consider to be strong professional contacts and even friends in all sorts of places, such as Members of Parliament, political advisers to senior politicians, the civil service, and more.

How do you manage work-life balance? 

Again, this is something where doing work that you value is helpful. There is less of a drain on your energy if your work is enjoyable and motivating. That said, any work can be tiring at times, and I have a wife, two children and friends who need my attention too. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time on work even if I enjoyed every moment of it. In this respect I am lucky to have an employer that puts a value on the wellbeing of its staff and is open to being flexible – this would always be a priority for me when considering future employment.

For my own part the best approach I have found for separating work from the rest of my life is a total blackout approach – barring extraordinary planned occasions or emergencies, if it’s not work hours, I don’t do work. My colleagues know my work hours and barring emergencies, or for planned specific work, they respect that. It helps to treat colleagues with the same respect to set mutual boundaries.

What role could young scientists play in accelerating the development and adoption of NAMs?

Aside from working for an organisation that directly campaigns on this issue or is actively engaged in the development of NAMs then being an advocate for NAMs in any scientific setting would be hugely valuable. You guys are the researchers and the regulators of tomorrow, so if you can start to shift the dial in your organisations now, then that can help to build the environment for our campaigning to be well received now and into the future.

What opportunities do early-stage researchers interested in joining an animal protection NGO focused on ending animal testing in science have? Does Cruelty-Free International or other similar NGOs employ early-stage researchers with PhD or master’s diplomas?

Yes, we have a science team with roles covering a range of seniority levels. Our entry-level roles in this team would be exactly the kind of roles that early-stage researchers could think about.

How does Cruelty Free International engage with academia, industry partners, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders to promote the adoption of alternative testing methods and advance the cause of animal protection? Is there any way how the early-stage researchers of the ASPIS Academy or other similar initiatives might contribute to these efforts in collaboration with Cruelty Free International or other similar NGOs?

We try to engage with academia, industry partners and other stakeholders as often as we can. We don’t always have formal routes to do this, so it’s very much about networking, finding ways to make good relationships and building them up over time. These kinds of exercises are made much easier if there are sympathetic individuals in those organisations. If you find yourself on the other side of that equation, then be open to that kind of outreach and seek out those contacts yourself.

We have a much more formal relationship with regulators. We are active stakeholders for the European Commission and regularly engage with them in multiple forums. We work hard to make sure that we have the profile and can demonstrate the expertise that regulators need so that we are consistently invited to engage. We are always sure to ask promptly to be involved if they don’t invite us themselves!

Which advice would you give your younger self if you could meet him?

I wouldn’t want to tell my younger self to do too much differently, but I might urge him to stress a bit less about his future prospects. Trust the process. You won’t get to where you want to be overnight and the ups and downs are to be expected.