Exploring how laboratory animal technicians put ethics into practice. (360G-Wellcome-100899_Z_13_Z)

We, Beth Greenhough (PI) and Emma Roe (Co-I), want to study whether animal experimentation procedures can be refined through developing greater understanding of the work of animal technicians (ATs) and the bodily skills and capacities they use in turning ethical principles into caring practices. Through preliminary meetings and interviews we have established collaborations with three Biological Services Units at Cardiff University, the University of Southampton and Queen Mary University of London. The research will involve eighteen in-depth interviews with laboratory ATs at these three sites as well as a two week period of ethnographic observation of ATs at work at one site and participant observation at the Institute of Animal Technology annual congress. This methodology has previously been used successfully by Roe in her work on farm animal welfare. The findings will be disseminated through attendance at the IAT annual congress, at least one academic research paper and a 10,000 word report for industry. This study will benefit laboratory animal research and facility staff, ethical review bodies and animals themselves by highlighting the role of the AT-animal relationship in ensuring good animal welfare and providing recommendations for supporting ATs in facilitating good animal welfare and contributing more fully in ethical discussions.