By Michael Collis (independent) and Manasi Nandi, (Kings College London, UK)
As students and teachers of physiology, we recognise that research animals have been essential in understanding normal physiological processes and the changes that occur in disease.
Animal research is often required to advance research projects from the laboratory, and to develop practical applications that can benefit both human and animal health.
While in vitro alternatives to using live animals have been developed, there are still research questions that can only be addressed by using animals.
It is important to acknowledge that there are many outstanding questions about animal research. Which research projects justify the use of animals and which do not? How can we minimise stress and maximise welfare for research animals? How should such experiments be designed and reported?”
Since 2017, we have worked together with a group of researchers from universities, industry, and animal welfare organisations to develop a curriculum for the use of research animals which we hope will be beneficial and valuable to all students of physiology and the biomedical sciences, whether or not they intend to use research animals in their careers.
The series of learning outcomes of this curriculum covers all aspects of research animal use including: the legal and ethical framework; how and when research animals should be used; experimental design; analysis and communication; the fundamental science; and societal attitudes toward animal research.
It has been endorsed by a large number of research and welfare organisations including The Physiological Society and the British Pharmacological Society.
Aside from an optional section involving some experiential learning, the majority of the curriculum does not require access to specialist laboratories nor to research animals and can therefore be completed online.
Having developed a curriculum that should be valuable to a wide variety of biomedical students, we then asked ourselves how we could we encourage and facilitate its use.
Many university departments in the UK do not have a depth of experience in teaching about the challenging topic of animal research and welfare, despite appreciating the potential value to students.
To address this, The Physiological Society and the British Pharmacological Society are working together on a project (the Research Animal Sciences Education Scheme) which supports the introduction of the relevant aspects of the curriculum in universities around the UK.
This scheme provides sponsorship for a group of academic educators, who are experts in animal research education.
This group will provide free support and mentor colleagues at other institutions, who wish to incorporate aspects of the curriculum into their teaching in the most efficient ways. A peer-to-peer academic support model ensures that the time and workload burden will be carefully considered.
Overall, we hope that we can find practical solutions to improve the knowledge base of our future bioscience graduates, so that they more fully appreciate the appropriate use of animals in research and how to interpret data generated from them.
The help provided by our group of experts can be tailored to individual needs including a mix of the following: training sessions for educators; provision of existing teaching materials; guest lectures; lab visits; and sharing research expertise. A database of recommended teaching resources is also being updated as part of the scheme and will be maintained.
The scheme kicks off with a pilot this year. The expert educators will each work with a couple of institutions that have already requested support, to enhance their ability to deliver the curriculum.
If you are an educator interested in receiving support, or an educator with expertise in teaching about animal research who is interested in becoming a mentor in 2022, please contact education@bps.ac.uk
Please note that all views expressed on The Physiological Society’s blog reflect those of the author(s) and not of The Society.