Education is an important aspect of our work across the Policy and Programmes team, and on occasion, we receive invites from universities or colleges to run guest lectures. Recently, my colleague, Juliet, and I guest lectured virtually at Hartpury University, as part of their ‘Controls on the Use of Animals in Science’ module for their MSc Animals Welfare, Policy and Legislation.

What did our sessions involve?

For this course, we focused on the viability of new alternative approaches explored as future avenues for replacing animals in science.

Our involvement was split across two sessions, a pre-recorded lecture and a live session. Our pre-recorded lecture covered information on different approaches and methods of replacement, and the barriers that are currently facing replacement. At the end of this session, we set the students a task: pick one of the barriers covered in the lecture, be that legislative, cultural, financial, scientific, etc., and research the area in more detail. Then, come up with a plan or roadmap to enable change in the chosen area. The plan could be incremental steps, or a big, wholesale change – the sky was the limit!

Our second session was a live follow-up to the pre-recorded lecture, where the students presented the findings of their task and we discussed their plans as a group.

How did the session go?

All the students who attended our live session were really engaged with the issue and had put so much time and effort into researching the barriers around replacement further. It’s always interesting to see the perspectives from which students undertake a task, especially when they come from different professional and cultural backgrounds.

Two of the students chose to focus on the cultural and behavioural barriers facing replacement, looking at what the current issues were, and what can be changed within universities and other research establishments. They researched further around publication bias and current university frameworks, looking at how to make changes that allow students to stand up for their own choices, or ways that can ensure students have an alternative without having to push for it themselves.

Another student came at the task from a totally different perspective, looking at a specific case study on laminitis in horses. This focuses more on the scientific methodologies available as a barrier to replacement, with discussion focusing on how veterinary medicine is often seen as a more difficult area to replace with non-animal methods, due to the nature of the research and the subjects involved.

Overall, the session brought up some really interesting questions and conversations around how barriers can be deconstructed and what needs to be done to improve the replacement of animals. It was fantastic to see the students get so involved, and there were certainly bits that we can take away and think about more as an organisation.

Why do we get involved with courses like this?

As mentioned, education is a large area of our work. Getting involved with education across all levels allows us to share expertise on a specific area of animal use, that often isn’t at the forefront of people’s minds, as well as highlighting the specific work we do, and why we do it. Having the opportunity to share our work and educate at university level is also important, particularly with students in animal welfare and policy related degrees, who may be thinking about next steps in their career, to give them an idea of the wide range of roles that exist in the sector.

For me, this was a particularly special course to be invited to take part in, as the new course leader of this module was my course leader from my BSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Plymouth University, Ben Brilot. After finishing my degree, it was Ben who informed me of, and encouraged me to apply to, the MSc in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law at the University of Glasgow. It was here I found my love for law and legislation around animal use, in particular around the use of animals in science, which ultimately led to my position at Replacing Animal Research. So, to now be helping educate students alongside a previous mentor of mine, was a very satisfying full-circle moment in my career. I hope the students found it as useful and interesting as I found my animals in science modules at university!

Are you an academic or a student involved in a similar university or college course? We are always looking for ways to expand our educational reach, so please get in touch if you believe our work could be of use to your course.