Non-Animal Research
19 Jul 2008
Ethical careers
With the growing awareness of animal experimentation many people are seeking to make ethical choices in the way they live and the work they do, to ensure they avoid exploiting animals. This factsheet provides some general information to those seeking ethical careers.
Getting a job with a humane research or animal protection group
The ideal for many people is to find a job with an organisation promoting animal protection or humane research, such as the Dr Hadwen Trust. Such jobs are relatively rare, but you may be lucky enough to find one if you regularly check job advertisements in newspapers and on websites.
The Guardian newspaper’s website has an online job section that allows you to search for jobs in the category ‘charity’ and ‘animal’ or ‘environmental’.
www.guardian.co.uk
A number of job websites now specialise in vacancies with charities. One example is www.charityjob.co.uk that advertises hundreds of current charity jobs, including the animal and environmental sectors.
www.animal-job.co.uk provides links to animal job vacancies and information on various animal-related job opportunities and volunteer work in animal welfare organisations, veterinary practices, animal rescue charities, wildlife and conservation societies, kennels and catteries.
Boost your chances of securing a job with a charity or pressure group by obtaining qualifications in, or experience of, skills that are invaluable to such organisations. These include fundraising, copy writing, journalism, campaigning, public speaking, scientific expertise, marketing, public relations, and administration. Good communication and organisational skills, plus commitment, are always essential.
It never hurts to approach organisations you would particularly like to work for, explaining why they are your ideal employer and how you could be of use to them. Even if there are no current vacancies, you can ask them if they will keep your details on file and inform you of any jobs that arise.
You can be especially helpful by offering to work as a volunteer, preferably on a regular basis, so that you get to know the organisation and the way it works. This will put you in a good position to hear when any vacancies arise, and if you get an interview you will be well informed about their issue.
Finding a job with an ethical or animal-friendly company
While many different types of businesses have absolutely nothing to do with animal experiments, finding a company with a clear and explicit animal-friendly policy is much more unusual. Companies and charities with a policy to avoid animal tests are listed in cruelty-free guides produced by campaigning groups such as the BUAV (Tel: 020 7700 4888) and Naturewatch (Tel: 01242 252871).
If you wish to avoid working for a company that is involved in animal testing then it is always wise to scan job advertisements carefully and ask questions about animal use before you apply. It sounds obvious, but simply asking if the company’s products are tested on animals is the quickest and most direct way to find this out. If they do, and you are opposed to animal experiments, they will be just as unwilling to employ you, as you are to work for them.
The Ethical Consumer magazine (perhaps your local library takes it) will keep you abreast with companies currently under scrutiny, and their website lists companies that are currently the subject of boycotts www.ethicalconsumer.org Or contact The Ethical Consumer, Unit 21, 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester, M15 5RF. Tel: 0161 226 2929.
Scientists for Global Responsibility have put together a number of resources for scientists and engineers seeking an ethical career, including a booklet and briefings available at their website: www.sgr.org.uk
There are now numerous websites that promote ethical and environmental career choices, and advertise jobs and volunteer opportunities. Some of these are:
Green Net website: www.gn.apc.org
One World net website: www.oneworld.net
People & Planet website: www.peopleandplanet.org/ethicalcareers
While alternatives to animals are being developed in many laboratories, very few biomedical companies or research institutes can claim to be entirely free of animal use. For example, many leading pharmaceutical companies carry out work on alternatives, but they also conduct animal tests, as it is currently a regulatory requirement that all drugs undergo animal testing.
Studying for a career in humane research
To pursue a research career developing alternatives to animal experiments, you will need to obtain a good science degree. There are no degree courses in “alternatives” as such yet, but alternative techniques are being developed in any number of different disciplines, giving you a wide range of choice in the subjects you may decide to study. Useful fields of study include cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, computing, epidemiology, statistics, medical physics and bioengineering, to name but a few.
If you choose to study life sciences at university it is almost certain that you will be expected to conduct dissections of dead animals and experiments on animal tissues. It is less likely that you will have to participate in experiments on living animals (vivisection), although this is still possible. Experiments on living animals take place at virtually every university in the UK, predominantly by postgraduate scientists and researchers, rather than undergraduates. It is therefore not possible to choose to study life sciences at a university that has no involvement with animal experiments at all, although you can avoid participating in these experiments.
Attitudes to animal experiments can vary enormously between different universities, and even between departments within individual universities. Some are sympathetic to students who are opposed to animal use and offer them alternatives, others less so. Different courses will have different requirements that are liable to change from year to year. The only way to be sure that the course you wish to take does not involve animal experimentation is to ask the university directly before you apply. They should be willing to discuss this with you, and would certainly not attempt to mislead you onto a course that was unsuitable for you.
If you unwittingly find yourself on a course that involves animal experiments, discuss it immediately with your course tutor, or someone in a position to help (not just your friends!). Ask if an alternative can be made available for you. There is an extensive database listing over 3,500 specific alternatives to animals in education freely available on the internet at http://oslovet.veths.no/NORINA/
The group InterNICHE exists to help students obtain a humane education, and can loan out some alternative teaching aids. Tel: +44 (0)116 210 9652
Email: coordinator@interniche.org Or visit their website at: www.interniche.org
A postgraduate career in non-animal research
Attitudes to vivisection have changed enormously in the past 20 years, and today’s young scientists are more animal-friendly and more aware of the issues than ever before. They are also the first to have been given the opportunity to achieve scientific qualifications without participating in animal experiments. Those who opt for research careers will inevitably influence the consensus of the scientific community.
Whilst the development of alternatives is taking place in virtually all fields of medical research, it remains a relatively small, but rapidly growing research field. Research posts are advertised in scientific journals and magazines, or on university websites. You will have to scan job advertisements carefully, and it is unusual to see research posts advertised specifically as aimed at developing alternatives to animal experiments. Making enquiries about animal use before applying for any position is probably wise.
One way to locate research projects in a field that interests you is to search a scientific database, such as Medline, of published research papers. Medline is freely available on the Internet at the PubMed website www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
Most databases and publishers don’t yet index research with the term “alternatives”, so you will have to search with terms such as “cell culture” or “computer model”, etc., plus the specific area of research you are interested in e.g. “cancer”, “diabetes”, “toxicity” or something more specific. If you find ongoing projects which seem suitable, you can contact the researcher to see if there is any possibility of any vacancies.
The Dr Hadwen Trust provides funding to scientists who are working on non-animal projects at universities, hospitals and research institutes around the country. We do not have our own laboratories, nor are we responsible for employing or placing researchers into research posts. Our grants are awarded to senior researchers who are then responsible for finding and choosing their own staff, which they usually do by advertising in the scientific press.
Our web site includes links to other organisations and institutes that are developing or promoting the use of alternatives to animals, which may be of interest or help to you in your search for a humane career. We wish you every success with your future career.
Good Luck!