In 2019, UFAW awarded a grant of £1,877 under its Small Projects awards to Dr Claire Gibson at the University of Nottingham to enrich the environment of laboratory rodents by providing playpens and toys for them to interact with.
The grant also provided nesting material and a monitoring camera system so the team could study the impact of the enrichment on the rodents’ behaviour. Professor Gibson said: “We have purchased all the equipment but, due to COVID-19, we have not yet begun the validation study. We are planning to resume behavioural work which will include a playpen validation study using the equipment purchased from this grant.”
Longer term, the use of playpens for rodents on medium and long term studies will be promoted through the animal facility users group at the University of Nottingham as well as further afield through the University’s relationships with the NC3Rs (National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research) and relevant social media accounts.
