3Rs Committee

The 3Rs committee is in place to consider animal welfare and promote the 3Rs within the University.

The 3Rs committee, or the Animal Welfare committee, functions separately from the AWERB. The committee meets four times a year and its role is to consider animal welfare by promoting the 3Rs within the University. It does this by communicating with scientists at a local level and at the annual 3Rs day when scientists and technicians are encouraged to present posters on refinements.

Committee aims

The objectives of the 3Rs committee are:

• To provide a mechanism to encourage and facilitate wider staff involvement in the 3Rs, and act as a driver for:
  • Consideration and implementation of existing 3Rs opportunities
  • Development of new 3Rs initiatives and activities
  • Widespread distribution of information on the 3Rs
• To provide a forum to discuss matters relating to animal accommodation, care and humane killing, in the context of specific animal welfare issues
• To review care procedures in the light of recent developments in the field and to influence policies to achieve high standards of care

Membership

The committee is composed of:

• A chair person
• Named Veterinary Surgeons (NVSs)
• 3 Named Animal Care and Welfare Officers (NACWOs)
• 6 personal licence holders
• A statistician
• An animal welfare scientist
• A secretary