Public engagement, outreach and communication of the 3Rs

An audience of 100 attendees joined us at the 2009 Cheltenham Science Festival. New Scientist and the NC3Rs held a joint event to debate the use of alternatives to animal research over the next 50 years, including a presentation from science fiction author, Dr Paul McAuley.

Big Brother: Keeping a watchful eye on animal
behaviour (2014)

Chaired by our Chief Executive Dr Vicky Robinson, our session showcased three NC3Rs grant holders who presented the latest video technologies to monitor and evaluate animal welfare. Dr Sara Wells discussed progress on the Rodent Little Brother CRACK IT Challenge to remotely assess activity, behaviour and interaction of mice in their home cages, Dr Lynne Sneddon detailed her work tracking zebrafish behaviour in their home tanks, and Dr Matt Leach explained how you can use facial expressions to understand and monitor pain in animals.

Dish and chips: New alternatives to animal
testing (2015)

Visitors to the British Science Festival in 2016 saw real-life laboratory examples up close and personal. Chaired by Professor Jamie Davies, audience members had the chance to examine the slime mould Dictyostelium used by Professor Robin Williams to replace animals in research on epilepsy, asthma and nausea and vomiting, alongside unique scaffolds used by Professor Christine Watson to model breast tissue and organ-on-chips from Professor John Greenman which are both used in cancer research.

As part of 2016 Biology Week, we held a panel discussion at the British Library to enable dialogue between researchers and the public. There were plenty of audience questions for active involvement and engagement. Chaired by our then Board Chair Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, the panel included researchers from academia and industry.

We have held four events in parliament to launch key documents and showcase 3Rs projects. Our parliamentary events have provided opportunities to engage with MPs, Peers and policy makers specifically on the work of the NC3Rs as well as 3Rs projects from across the scientific community. We held two events in 2007 and 2009, hosted by Phil Willis MP and Lord Sainsbury respectively showcasing over 80 3Rs projects in total. Our 2012 event sponsored by Lord Willetts launched our framework for evaluating 3Rs impacts, and in 2014 we returned to launch our report detailing ten years of working with the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2019 we ran the first citizen science project for a laboratory animal topic. The Secret Lives of Mice project, a collaboration between the NC3Rs and colleagues at MRC Harwell, involved members of the public identifying and annotating different behaviours in short video clips of mice. Footage was recorded through the Home Cage Analyser system developed through the Rodent Little Brother CRACK IT Challenge as a non-invasive approach to assess the impact of scientific interventions on animal behaviour and welfare.

Hosted on the Zooniverse platform, the project was highly successful with more than 7,000 volunteers (including a strong uptake by teachers and schools) and 68,800 behavioural events classified. The information obtained trained computer algorithms to make the system more accurate and efficient. 

The project was recognised in the Understanding Animal Research Annual Openness Awards in 2020.

120 writers from around the world entered our 'Beyond Animal Research' essay competition with New Scientist. To mark the 50th anniversary of the 3Rs in 2009 we challenged writers to let their imagination run wild and think about novel ways to replace animals in research. The winner, ‘Your virtual twin’ by Natalia Alexandrov, a researcher at NASA’s Langley Research Centre, introduced us to the world of 2050, when computer-generated twins are created for every baby to test drugs and detect long-term health issues. The judging panel included Professor Lewis Wolpert, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, Professor Ian Kimber (at the time NC3Rs Board Chair) and Jeremy Webb.

We awarded Linda Horan (Manager of the Biomedical Procedures Unit at the University of Strathclyde) funding for students from local universities and children from underprivileged schools to visit the animal facility, meet scientists and animal technicians and experience the 3Rs in person. Linda and the team also took part in the Scottish Universities’ Explorathon festival, meeting over 200 people at their stall featuring hands-on examples of replacement, reduction and refinement activities. Linda is an NC3Rs Board member and has received NC3Rs funding to use chicken eggs to replace mice in cancer studies at the university.

With her public engagement award, Dr Jo Sharpe has created a 'trumps' card game on the approaches scientists can use to replace animals in biological research. She is using the card game to educate, engage and facilitate discussion at events including science fairs and workshops, public talks and school visits, and has sent packs to other researchers, institutions and schools. Jo is an NC3Rs-funded researcher at the University of Sheffield, using fruit flies to replace mice to study metastatic cancer.

Read Jo's article on The Node to find out more about how you can use the cards in your public engagement and outreach activities.

At the University of Bristol, Dr Carole Furieux and Dr Chris Handley have created an immersive experience of the refinements found in a typical lab rodent home-cage. Supported by NC3Rs public engagement award funding, their experience includes activities such as foraging (in a ball pit), exercise (with a skipping rope) and nest building material (in a tent) for children, families and adults to experience hands-on how refined housing improves lab animal welfare. A favourite activity is the rodent vision simulator, where visitors can experience how mice and rats see colour and discuss how understanding the unique sensory experiences of animals allows scientists and technicians to maximise their welfare.

At a STEM summer school supported by her public engagement award, PhD student Evgenia Maslova shared how her research group uses the wax moth larvae Galleria mellonella to replace mice and research infection, immunity and healing. Alongside a tour of their lab and the chance to see Galleria up close, the students took home engaging and informative stickers to remember their experience. Evgenia is also 3D printing a Galleria model using PET scan images of real wax moth larvae to bring to school visits, open days and science festivals. In her NC3Rs-funded PhD research, Evgenia is using Galleria larvae to replace mammals in research into how burn wounds heal.

Dr Erika Kague used her public engagement award funding to develop a virtual reality experience exploring how she uses larval zebrafish to replace mice to study bone disease. Attendees at the University of Edinburgh open doors day were able to immersive themselves in real research images, zooming through fluorescent pictures of embryonic zebrafish to see developing neurones and bones. Erika and her team welcomed over 200 visitors, from young children to older adults. Some visitors who were living with osteoarthritis were able to experience and better understand how their condition is being researched using larval zebrafish to replace the mouse models that are widely used in arthritis research.

With her public engagement award, Dr Noemie Hamilton brought 3Rs research to life for children and families affected by leukodystrophies (a group of rare genetic disorders affecting the brain). Visitors at the AlexTLC patient community day could simulate Noemie’s experiments which use zebrafish larvae to replace mice in research to develop new therapies. Noemie transplants gene-edited cells into larval zebrafish and because the larvae are transparent, she can watch the cells move into the brain where they have a treatment effect. Visitors injected a 3D printed plastic model of larval zebrafish with green liquid and watched it circulate around the model – just like scientists watch green fluorescent cells move around zebrafish larvae under the microscope. Visitors could also ‘have a go’ at getting a zebrafish ready for an MRI scan, putting a model of a fish into a life support chamber that Noemie has developed to scan live zebrafish. Her unique system refines and reduces their use by avoiding the need to kill fish for an MRI scan and allowing the same fish to be scanned multiple times. 

Dr Nathan Carpentier, PhD student Riba Thomas and a team of five other early career researchers at the University of Nottingham ran activities at the City's library and local schools for the public to 'have a go' at replacement techniques and tools. They explored how lab-grown organs and genetically modified cells and bacteria can be used to replace animal experiments. The hands-on activities included making animal-free hydrogels (which are used to grow cells in 3D) and changing 'cell growth media' with real pipettes and dishes that scientists use in the lab. In her NC3Rs-funded PhD research, Riba is developing a new way to study how breast cancer develops using human stem cells to replace some animal models.

• A card game where players build a timeline of landmark events and 3Rs advances to stimulate discussion of the 3Rs with all age groups.
• A buildable 3D model of the fruit fly to explore how insects are used to replace animals like mice and rats with the public at science festivals.
• A live demonstration of a 'living organ system' for kidney transplant patients, using pig organs collected as waste from butchers to replace animal experiments to develop new drugs for kidney injury.
• A microscope for visitors to see 3D cell models called spheroids and organoids used to replace mice in cancer drug development, at a public engagement festival and citizen science project with 15-17 year old students.
• A badge pack for Guiding and Scouting groups to explore the role of the 3Rs in drug discovery and development through a number of different activities for children aged 4-17.
• An immersive experience of refined rodent housing at a local science centre alongside a workshop on alternative models, to explore the importance of all 3Rs to study bacterial infections.