Call for Refinement Proposals

AWI offers funding for projects to improve
the welfare of laboratory animals.

The Animal Welfare Institute is offering up to eight $6,000 Refinement Awards to North American residents, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor. Studies aimed at the refinement of the housing and handling conditions of animals assigned for research or education will be considered for funding.

Please note proposals will not be funded:

  • if the data collection procedure inflicts avoidable stress, and/or
  • the study implies the killing of animals during or after the data collection process.

Applications should be in the form of a letter that elaborates how the study is likely to enhance animal welfare and outlines in detail the methodology that will be applied to achieve this objective. The application letter must not exceed three pages, and it must include assurance that the applicant:
  • has day-to-day experience with the housing and handling of laboratory animals,
  • will personally both collect and analyze the data of the proposed study and
  • will submit a final report along with an abstract.

The report may be edited for publication in the AWI Quarterly, and award recipients must submit a manuscript summarizing their findings to a scientific or professional journal/newsletter/magazine.

Please send your application as a Microsoft Word document e-mail attachment to Viktor Reinhardt at viktor (@) snowcrest.net by Jan. 27, 2006.

Notification letters will be mailed to all applicants by March 31, 2006.

Awardees receive $5,000 of the grant at the beginning of their studies and the remaining $1,000 when they submit their final reports by Jan. 31, 2007.

If you have questions, please contact Viktor by e-mail using RA06 as the subject heading.

Mice kept in research laboratories have a strong urge to build their own nests, preferably with paper-based material. M.K. Meijer, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

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