WC8: FRAME training schools

A poster about FRAME's highly successful training schools in the design and analysis of animal experiments is being  presented by FRAME Scientific Programme Manager Michelle Hudson.

She also assisted Dr Derek Fry in running a shortened training session during a satellite meeting at the Congress. Dr Fry is a medical academic who was Chief Inspector of the UK Animal Scientific Procedures Inspectorate until his retirement in 2008. He has been a regular lecturer at the FRAME schools.

The session was attended by more than 60 international participants. Lectures were given in English but slides were also offered in French.

A series of short lectures was interspersed with group tasks and all the participants actively engaged and gained a great deal from the experience. The session covered features of good design, staging experimental sequences, protocols and  projects, and monitoring.

Michelle said: "The schools have proved very popular in the UK and Europe. The session at the World Congress was a wonderful opportunity to spread the message about the importance of experimental design to a wider audience on the North American continent.

"We hope to persuade some of the universities in the US and Canada to adopt similar courses as part of their training for students in biological sciences."