Investing in the future:

The next generation of animal-free researchers

 

Part of our mission at Animal Free Research UK is to inspire and support scientists. We want to train a new generation of scientists who are excited to develop animal-free techniques and create a step change in the culture of research.

Supporting our scientists of the future to develop their career entirely without animal experiments and make real breakthroughs in medical research will create long-lasting change for both people and animals.

lifETIME CDT students, Animal Free Research UK

lifETIME CDT

The lifETIME (Engineered Tissues for Discovery, Industry and Medicine) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) (lifETIME CDT) is a leading UK training programme dedicated to developing the next-generation of animal-free researchers. The scheme is a partnership between the University of Glasgow, the University of Birmingham, Aston University and CÚRAM Science Foundation Ireland, and Animal Free Research UK is proud to be a strategic charity and funding partner of lifETIME CDT.

The scheme brings together expertise from academia, industry and healthcare to create an in-depth 4-year training programme for PhD students, specialising in creating realistic human models for drug testing and disease research to eliminate the need for animal experiments.

Many scientists begin their careers being taught to rely on animal experiments, simply because that’s the way things have always been done. But lifETIME CDT is helping to equip the next generation of researchers with the knowledge and skills to drive an animal-free future from the very start of their careers.

Find out more about the lifETIME CDT PhD students

Summer Student Programme

Although our Summer Student Programme has now ended, we couldn’t be more proud of the 69 incredible early-career researchers we’ve supported along the way. These students have taken their first steps towards becoming the next generation of scientists who will lead the way in developing cutting-edge, animal-free research. Their passion for change gives us hope for a future where science is not only more ethical, but also more human-relevant and effective.

Our Summer Student Programme gave early career scientists valuable laboratory experience where our talented students spent their summer developing animal-free research techniques to study a wide range of illnesses. From Alzheimer’s disease, to cancer and heart disease, our Summer Students advanced society’s understanding of human health and help save animals from being used in these areas of research.

Former students have found that these short projects influence their career decisions and encourage them to pursue non-animal based research careers.

Find out more about our past Summer Students
Summer Student programme at Animal Free Research UK