Dear researchers
Rigorous planning and study design utilising appropriate guidelines and checklists are the cornerstones of good scientific practice. In the next Fin3R Center webinar “PREPARE for Better Science: A practical guide to available resources”, Adrian Smith will discuss this issue within the field of laboratory animal research. Registration is now open for the webinar that will be held on 2 April 2024, 2 PM Finnish time. Please se below more information about the webinar and registration.
Best regards,
Sakari Laaksonen Designated veterinarian Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre (OULAC) University of Oulu, Finland Postal address: PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland Tel: +358 294 48 5097
Registration (link below) is open for the free webinar “PREPARE for Better Science: A practical guide to available resources” which will be presented by Dr. Adrian Smith (Norecopa, Norway).
Date: April 2, 2024, Helsinki 2 PM (EEST)
ABSTRACT We should all strive for better science, to ensure that it is ethically acceptable, scientifically valid, reproducible and (in the case of animal research and testing) translatable to the target species. Animal welfare, health and safety, culture of care, and transparency for all stakeholders have also become important elements of the modern research ecosystem. It is now 40 years since the first guidelines for reporting animal research were developed. While good reporting is an essential part of the research pipeline, the issues mentioned above must be discussed from day 1 of planning studies which appear to involve animal use, and they must be addressed throughout the study, using appropriate guidance and checklists. This approach has been used for many years in industry, but there are still serious flaws in the way in which animal research is carried out, not least within academia. A significant part of the problem lies within inadequate dialogue between scientists and animal facility staff. This webinar will give an overview of the current concerns within animal research and advice on how we can improve our science. It will also demonstrate how the PREPARE guidelines, in combination with other resources, can be used as a framework for developing robust studies which fulfill the above criteria.
SPEAKER Adrian Smith is a British veterinarian, resident in Norway since 1980. He has had many different positions within the laboratory animal community in Norway, including the Chair in Laboratory Animal Science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Since 2007 he has been secretary of Norecopa (https://norecopa.nohttps://norecopa.no/) , Norway's National Consensus Platform for replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experiments. Adrian is a firm believer in good animal welfare, not least because it is a win-win situation for both the animals and scientists, since the data obtained from these animals is the best possible. More information at https://norecopa.no/staff/adrian-smith
Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5clf-2hpzMiGNS1tIpqHd4tKAlEr0_aCi... After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. During the webinar, please keep your cameras off and your microphones muted. After the main talk, we have time for discussion where you can participate with your face and voice!
_________________________________________ Vootele Voikar, MD, PhD Laboratory Animal Center Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) P.O. Box 29 (Mustialankatu 1G) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland
Phone: +358 2941 57658 E-mail: vootele.voikar@helsinki.fimailto:vootele.voikar@helsinki.fi
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/infrastructures/comprehensive-model-organisms https://www.fingmice.fi/mbpf/ e-mail: mbpf@helsinki.fimailto:mbpf@helsinki.fi