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New award recognises research that improves animal welfare

Laboratory animals are not necessarily needed to carry out high quality research. And if animals are used, this should be done in a proper and ethically responsible manner. This is the essence of a new award – the 3R Prize – which Health has established. It will be presented for the first time at the PhD Day in January.

Replacement, refinement, reduction. These are the words behind the three Rs, which covers a global effort for animal welfare among laboratory animals. In simple terms they mean: do not use laboratory animals if you can study your area in other ways. Ensure that the laboratory animals suffer as little as possible during experimentation and do not use more animals than is necessary in order to arrive at certain knowledge. 

3R is already part of the day-to-day work with experimental animal research at Health. Now, a PhD student who has made a special effort to incorporate 3R in his or her research project will be recognised with a new DKK 10,000 award.

The award will be presented for the first time at the evening event at Health’s PhD Day on 24 January. It will go to a PhD student who has incorporated 3R in his or her research project, either to reduce, refine or replace animal experimentation.

3R can provide better data

"Sometimes we automatically use mice or pigs when we need to study something. But in some cases you can achieve the same knowledge or elements of this knowledge in a different way – if you just think about what’s really necessary. If laboratory animals are required, you can often reduce the stress on an animal by avoiding transporting it or by getting it used to some procedures so it doesn’t become as stressed over it. We need to put an end to doing ‘what we usually do’,” says Birgitte Kousholt, who is a veterinarian, PhD and head of the surgical research laboratories at the Department of Clinical Medicine.

Getting the animals used to the experimentation which they are part of can often increase the quality of the data. For example, by first training them in the test that is going to be performed. This reduces the stress on the animal and can lead to less variation in the measurements.

Higher quality preclinical research

3R is not about eliminating all animal experimentation, but instead combining ethics, animal welfare and high scientific quality. International studies have shown that there are challenges in reproducing many animal experiments. This means that in a worst case scenario, research results cannot be used, and that laboratory animals have therefore been used for no reason. The award will place more focus on combining 3R with high academic quality.

"When we use animals for pre-clinical research, we must do so in a proper manner so that other researchers can make use of the results. Paradoxically, this may also mean increasing the number of animals to ensure the quality of the experiment. The most important thing is to carry out experiments of high quality and do so in an ethically responsible way," says Birgitte Kousholt.

Health’s Animal Welfare Committee has established the award.

Nomination

You need to submit your nomination no later than 17 January and all employees at Health are free to do so. The winner will be selected by Health’s Animal Welfare Committee

Find out more about the criteria and how to nominate a PhD student for the 3R award

Contact

Veterinarian, PhD Birgitte S. Kousholt
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine
The Surgical Research Laboratories
Tel.: (+45) 7845 9011
Email: birgitte.kousholt@clin.au.dk