FAQs for 3Rs training

Yes! 

We provide free training across the UK, whether in-person or online. Requests coming from outside of the UK are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The NC3Rs will not charge for staff time or resources provided as part of the training. If you are able, then covering the travel costs of NC3Rs staff members who are delivering in-person training would really help us continue to offer our staff time for free to institutions and end users, but there is no expectation that this will be possible on every occasion.

We deliver training both in-person and online.

For each of our training offers, information on whether this material is preferentially delivered in-person or online is included on the information page but our training material can typically be adjusted to suit your preference of delivery method. 

Most of our training is delivered by the Training and Engagement team but occasionally other staff members will lead on specific topics. 

The team has a wide variety of expertise across different research areas as well as experience outside of the lab teaching, working at other funders and undergoing training as part of their work at the NC3Rs. The whole team has experience of providing engaging, interactive events both online and in-person. 

The NC3Rs is a UK organisation primarily supported by British public funds. Our team is predominantly focused on delivering training within the UK and we develop our material with this audience in mind. 

We can consider delivering 3Rs training for organisations outside of the UK on a case-by-case basis. The decision will depend on factors such as the size and make-up of the intended audience as well as our capacity as a team to deliver the training. If you would like further information or to discuss scheduling training, the first step is to get in touch.

We are a UK-based organisation and so would not deliver training on UK bank holidays and are in the UK time zone (GMT/BST). 

We prefer to deliver our events during core business hours, 10.00 – 16.00, so please discuss with us if you would like to request a time outside of this. Please be mindful when requesting in-person training that staff will need to travel to your chosen venue. 

Typically, we ask that you allow eight weeks’ lead time between your first enquiry to us and the expected date of the training event but the earlier you get in touch the more likely we will be able to fulfil your request. This allows us time to work with you to establish the appropriate training session for your audience, to ensure you get the experience you expect and to allocate staff and arrange logistics for delivering training sessions. 

Note that we may not always be able to deliver training on a specific day due to other commitments, so please have a number of possible dates in mind. 

New training opportunities will be highlighted in the monthly NC3Rs newsletter. Opportunities aimed at animal technicians will also feature in Tech3Rs. 

By requesting training from us you are booking NC3Rs staff time and the materials required for us to deliver the training either in-person or online. All of this is free to the institution requesting this as well as to the attendees.

You would be required to book an appropriate space for this training event and advertise appropriately to achieve a reasonably-sized audience. Please take into account your own events policies, accessibility needs such as level access and the presence of a hearing loop as well as the size of the venue when considering where to book. For individual training events we do not expect refreshments to be provided but if this is something that you feel would be appropriate, or if several workshops are being combined or delivered as part of a larger event, it is also your responsibility to arrange these.

Our online sessions are delivered via Zoom. We would require an attendee list with institutional email addresses ahead of time. We encourage attendees to have their cameras on as active participation is a major component of our training opportunities. 

We are happy to discuss this further, including any points related to the specific training opportunities requested. 

Once you have checked the current highlighted training offer you can get in touch with the team to book the course you are interested in. You can expect a response from a member of the team within five working days. 

In order to for us to deal with your request promptly, please be ready with this following information, ideally including as much of it as you can in your initial enquiry:

• The course you are interested in. 
• The intended audience (e.g. early career researchers, more established researchers, animal technologists, or a mix). 
• The anticipated size of the audience. 
• Proposed dates/times for delivery of the training. 
• Context of the training session (e.g. is there a preferred length of session? Is this request for a standalone session or part of a larger event?)
• Preferred delivery format: online or in-person (and specify location for in-person). 

We review our highlighted training opportunities two-to-three times a year. Typically, one or two new opportunities will be added and the same number removed on each of these occasions. However, we are generally able to deliver any of the training opportunities from our full catalogue.

We focus our time on the training sessions currently offered via the training pages. However, we are always developing new workshops and want to hear what the community needs, so do get in touch and let us know what you would be interested in for the future.

Much of our training can be tailored to different audiences or we may be able to suggest an alternative that would be more suited to the primary audience of interest. Get in touch to discuss this with us further. 

Our training pages highlight our current and new workshops. If you would like training on a different topic, including an area that we have previously offered a workshop on, please get in touch to see if we can provide this.

The majority of our training opportunities do not have prerequisites and are self-contained. However, some will be of more benefit to those with a basic understanding of the material discussed. Further details can be found in the “audience” section of individual workshop webpages. 

To ensure appropriate use of staff time and resources we typically ask for a minimum audience size. For most of our training opportunities this is around 15 attendees.

If this cannot be met, for example if your animal house team is smaller than this or could not all attend the same session due to staffing requirements, please get in touch to discuss whether we are able find a possible solution. 

Whilst many of our training opportunities address topics that will be of interest to AWERB members, we do not currently provide dedicated training for this audience or for PPL review. We have written 3Rs advice for project licence applicants and may be able to provide information on alternative training providers depending on your needs, so get in touch if you would like to discuss further. 

We have resources and guidance on a range of methodologies and may offer training on using these resources but we do not provide practical training in any procedures or laboratory skills. 

We often provide workshops as part of larger 3Rs-focused events and consider these requests on a case-by-case basis. Get in touch with us to discuss this further.

We are not able to develop an entire programme or organise a full 3Rs symposium on request as this is better done by those with knowledge of the research conducted at the host institution or by the target audience. However, our staff are able to suggest possible speakers on specific topics if you are arranging a 3Rs-focused event. 

We can usually accommodate requests for multiple workshops to be combined into half-day or full-day events to make the most of staff time. However, we would always discuss this with those requesting the training and advise on the ideal combinations of workshops, so get in touch if you would like to discuss this further. 

Whilst we share slides and materials with workshop attendees, we do not provide the notes necessary to assist in the delivery of our training opportunities by anyone other than NC3Rs staff. 

We can usually accommodate requests for repeated delivery of our workshops on, for example, an annual basis, but we would expect a sustained level of interest to justify this commitment. Please get in touch with us to discuss this further. 

We do not record in-person or online sessions. 

We routinely collect feedback at the end of our events to ensure that we are always improving the material that we deliver and how we deliver it. If you missed out on your chance to give feedback or wish to give us more detailed thoughts on a recent event, please get in touch. We also welcome suggestions for future training topics. 

We can provide certificates of attendance on request. Note that our training opportunities do not involve any form of assessment and so these certificates are no indication of competence. 

We are currently in the process of adding CPD points to our training opportunities, these will be accredited by The CPD Standards Office. 

Get in touch!