Course catalogue doctoral education - VT24

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Title Animal Research: Critical, Challenging and Creative Thinking
Course number 5277
Programme 0-Inte del av forskarutbildningsprogram
Language English
Credits 1.5
Notes A Laboratory Animal Science course.

Date 2022-11-23 -- 2022-11-24
Responsible KI department Komparativ medicin
Specific entry requirements Previous education in how to plan, conduct, analyze and report scientific research involving the use of animals, animal derived material or animal derived data (ideally Function B or equivalent training, and some practical research experience e.g. Function A or equivalent).
Purpose of the course This course is designed to support doctoral students, and young researchers to enhance the reproducibility of their research through the development of critical, challenging and creative thinking skills. Participants will be encouraged to review how they plan, conduct, analyze and communicate their research activities, as well as to reflect upon the contribution they make locally, nationally, or internationally within the scientific/academic community, and Society in general. It is intended for individuals whose research involves the use of animals, animal derived material or animal derived data irrespective of whether the work requires licensed approval.
Intended learning outcomes Participants will acquire the skills to critically review, plan, conduct, disseminate and communicate research involving the use of animals, animal derived materials and/or animal derived data in accordance with contemporary good practice. At the end of the course participants should be able to:

• Communicate their research in an open and transparent manner to both scientific and lay audiences, with an informed understanding of the range of societal opinions that exist on this topic and the ethical issues that this type of research gives rise to;
• Recognise what responsible, ethical, good practice research conduct means in the context of their individual research project, and why it is important to maximise the impact, quality, reproducibility and reliability of their research data;
• Design and plan their experiments using a range of tools and resources that are available to support them to be innovative, think critically, challenge the status quo and implement best practice;
• Understand what good animal welfare means and how it impacts upon research quality and reproducibility;
• Consider all the factors that impact upon the lifetime experience of animals used in research, and reflect on how the 3Rs can be effectively implemented during the course of their own research project/activities.
Contents of the course • Session 1: An introduction to animal use in research. This includes the historical context for animal use in research, the range of Societal viewpoints on the use of animals in research and ethical theories unpinning them, and discussion of how and why some research becomes controversial. Following this session participants will write and receive feedback on a non-technical summary of their research project.
• Session 2: Animal research integrity. This includes: discussion of the research framework as it relates to the responsible use of animals in bioscience research; expectations regarding openness and transparency and good practices relating to the dissemination of research outputs. Participants will discuss the culture of research and real-life examples of non-compliance, ethical issues and common misconduct issues.
• Session 3: Common pitfalls in experimental design, how to identify and avoid them. This includes: topics to help maximise the robustness, reliability and reproducibility of results (how to maximise statistical power, sources of bias, identifying the experimental unit, hypothesis testing); a brief introduction to systematic reviews and meta-analysis; plus tools and resources that are available to support the effective planning and reporting of research involving the use of animals, including the PREPARE and latest ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines. During this session participants will use the latest ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines to assess a research paper, what is/is not reported, and how this impacts the results, conclusions, and study reproducibility.
• Session 4: Introduction to animal welfare and the 3Rs in practice. This includes: what is animal welfare and why it is important; factors to consider throughout an animal’s lifetime experience; potential sources of uncontrolled variables and confounding factors; and an introduction to concepts such as the refinement loop and marginal gains. Participants will then write and receive feedback on a draft experimental protocol to apply what they have learnt, identify opportunities to implement the 3Rs and any additional training/mentoring needs they may have.
Teaching and learning activities Face-to-face seminar lectures, or live online webinar sessions, individual work (home study), group work, class discussions and interactions.
Compulsory elements All parts of the course and active participation is compulsory. Missed parts must be compensated. In order to complete the course all four sessions must be attended and written activities completed.
Examination The students written assignments will be assessed. Written feedback will be given. Each participant will also be offered 1:1 meeting following the course conclusion to discuss the implement of their learning and any additional training or support they may require.
Literature and other teaching material PDF copies of all four session slide sets along with key references and activity materials will be made available online at Ping Pong/Canvas. The key reference material, the students are referred to is:
1. European code of conduct for research integrity https://allea.org/code-of-conduct
2. Fixing the flaws in animal research https://www.the-scientist.com/careers/fixing-the-flaws-in-animal-research-66276
3. Five selfish reasons to work reproducibly https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-015-0850-7
4. A manifesto for reproducible science https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-016-0021
5. The PREPARE guidelines https://norecopa.no/prepare
6. ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410
7. The NC3Rs Experimental Design Assistant https://eda.nc3rs.org.uk/home
8. BPS Blinding eLearning resource https://www.bps.ac.uk/education-engagement/research-animals/blinding-elearning-resource
9. Refinement: Lessons from the 2012 Olympics https://doi.org/10.1177/026119291304100309
Number of students 6 - 12
Selection of students This course is primarily aimed at doctoral research students, but other scientists at the beginning of their career may also be accepted. Preference will be given to doctoral research students working with animal models for their projects.
More information Face-to-face lectures (or live webinars) will be held on 2 separate days between approx. 9 am and 5 pm., but the students will need to complete pre-course material in advance.
Additional course leader
Latest course evaluation Course evaluation report
Course responsible Rafael Frias
Komparativ medicin
085246660
rafael.frias@ki.se
Contact person -