Top ten universities conduct a third of all UK animal research
The ten UK universities who do the most world-leading biomedical research* have announced their animal research statistics, revealing that they collectively conducted a third of all UK animal research in 2015.**
The top ten institutions conduct more than two thirds of all UK university animal research between them, completing a combined total of 1.37 million procedures. Over 99 per cent of these procedures were carried out on rodents or fish, and in line with national data they were roughly evenly split between experiments and the breeding of genetically modified animals.
The ten universities are listed below alongside the total number of procedures that they carried out in 2015. Each institution’s name links to a breakdown of their individual animal research statistics.
University of Oxford: 226,214
University of Edinburgh: 212,695
UCL: 202,554
University of Cambridge: 181,080
King’s College London: 175,296
University of Manchester: 145,457
Imperial College London: 101,179
University of Glasgow: 49,082
University of Birmingham: 47,657
University of Nottingham: 31,689
The universities employ more than 90,000 staff between them***, and as you would expect the larger institutions tend to conduct the most animal research. All universities are committed to the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible, minimising the number of animals used per experiment and minimising suffering to improve animal welfare. However, as universities expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study.
'The fact that we perform a significant proportion of the UK’s leading biomedical research is something to be proud of,' says Professor Michael Arthur, UCL President & Provost. 'It’s no surprise that the universities who conduct the most world-leading research also use the most animals; despite advances in non-animal techniques, animals offer answers to many research questions that alternative methods cannot yet provide.
'With recent advances in gene editing techniques, genetically modified animals offer particularly promising avenues of research. This year, UCL researchers discovered a genetic defect in children with a rare and debilitating form of childhood Parkinsonism leading to difficulties walking and talking. By replicating the genetic defect in fish, the team were able to better understand the disease and test different treatments. When a drug that corrected the defect in the fish was given to a child with the condition, she regained the ability to walk.'
All ten universities are signatories to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, a commitment to be more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. 107 organisations have signed the concordat including UK universities, charities, research funders and commercial research organisations.
The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Professor Louise Richardson, said: 'Five British universities are ranked in the world’s top ten for medical science. At Oxford, our scientists are making significant advances in understanding cancer, heart disease, psychiatric illness and a host of other health problems. Research involving animals remains critical to these medical advances. We are committed to ensuring that the animals we use are treated humanely and are equally committed to transparency in all our practices. It is very much in our interest to ensure that everyone understands the nature of our medical research and the many benefits it brings.'
Animal research has played a key role in the development of virtually every medicine that we take for granted today. However, despite decades of dedicated research, many widespread and debilitating conditions are still untreatable. Medical research is a slow process with no easy answers, but animal research helps to take us incrementally closer to treatments for cancer, dementia, stroke and countless other conditions.
While many animal studies do not lead directly to treatments for diseases, ‘basic science’ research helps scientists to understand different processes in the body and how they can go wrong, underpinning future efforts to diagnose and treat various conditions. Additionally, many studies will show that a line of research is not worth pursuing. Although this can be disappointing, such research is incredibly valuable as scientists need to know which methods do not work and why so that they can develop new ones. Animal studies can also help to answer a wide range of research questions that are not directly related to diseases, such as exploring how genes determine traits or how brain functions develop.
Notes to Editors
For further information, please contact Public Relations on 0207 848 3202 or pr@kcl.ac.uk
*‘Biomedical research’ here refers to ‘Clinical medicine’, ‘Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience’ and ‘Biological sciences’ as defined by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF is an independent assessment of research quality used by UK funding councils to determine the amount of public research funding allocated to each university. The ‘research power’ measure combines quality and volume of research to indicate which institutions are performing the largest amount of world-leading research. Data showing research power by subject for each institution can be downloaded from Times Higher Education.
**The UK Home Office recorded 4.14 million completed procedures in 2015, 1.37 million of which were carried out at the top ten universities. A total of 1.98 million procedures were carried out across all universities in 2015.
***The UK Higher Education Statistics Agency annually collects data on staff employment at UK universities. Staff numbers for the top ten biomedical research universities are as follows:
University of Oxford: 12,595
UCL: 11,980
University of Cambridge: 10,725
University of Manchester: 10,260
University of Edinburgh: 9,705
Imperial College London: 8,140
University of Nottingham: 7,470
King's College London: 7,250
University of Birmingham: 7,200
University of Glasgow: 6,760
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Image courtesy of Understanding Animal Research