Dear researchers,
This survey is part of the international study "Framing the Role of Animal Care Staff and Lab Technicians in the Discussion about Experimental Planning and Conduct of Animal Studies: Enhancing Science Reproducibility and Workers' Satisfaction," carried out by an international research team within the framework of the COST IMPROVE action (https://cost-improve.eu) financed by European funds and coordinated by the Translational Animal Research Center at the Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany.
In this survey, we are interested in the involvement of animal care personnel and lab technicians in the discussion about the planning and conduct of your research projects involving animals.
Important definitions:
By animal care staff, we refer to the people responsible for regularly caring for animals that will be used, bred, or supplied for scientific purposes (for instance, animal caretakers, animal technicians, animal technologists).
By lab technicians, we refer to those who work in a laboratory doing experiments with animal samples or non-animal methods, maintaining the laboratory equipment, and performing analytical or experimental procedures.
By experimental planning, we refer to the process of detailing the practical experimental plan and logistics to maximize the likelihood of obtaining sufficient and reliable scientific information, as well as to prevent unexpected situations that would affect the achievement of the scientific objectives. Experimental planning includes defining such parameters as the duration of the experiment, staff, animal housing, sampling methods, and data collection or acquisition procedures, among others.
By experimental conduct, we refer to the systematic approach to accurately collect information from various sources to provide insights and answers to the research questions, and minimize sources of variation as much as possible (i.e., compliance with protocols and SOPs).
Approximate completion time: 15 minutes.
Deadline: 31.07.2024.
We plan to disseminate results to the scientific community and stakeholders, by providing aggregated data analysis, through reports, scientific publications, and conference presentations.
Coordination:
General: Dr. Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin - TARCforce3R, University Medical Center Mainz.
Austria: Dr. Sophie Schober - Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA).
Croatia, North Macedonia, and Serbia: Dr. Ljupco Angelovski - Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.
France: Dr. Athanassia Sotiropoulos - Centre Français des 3R - GIS FC3R.
Germany: PD Dr. Bettina Bert - Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR), Deutsches Zentrum zum Schutz von Versuchstieren (Bf3R).
Italy: Dr. Augusto Vitale - Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
Portugal: Dr. Brígida Riso – Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa.
Spain: Dr. Nuno Franco - i3S, Universidade do Porto.
Switzerland: PD Dr. Paulin Jirkof - Universität Zürich.
Turkey: Dr. Ozge Selin Cevik, Mersin University; Dr. Erdal Horata - Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University.
United Kingdom: Dr. Penny Hawkins - RSPCA.
Rest of the world: Dr. Fernando Gonzalez Uarquin - TARCforce3R, University Medical Center Mainz.
