5 years with the 3Rs Center

The history in short

In 2014 the Swedish parliament decided to establish a national competence center for the 3Rs issues. They commissioned the Swedish Board of Agriculture to investigate the formation of a center. 

In December 2016 the government funded the Swedish 3Rs Center with 15 million Swedish crowns a year from 2017 to 2020, which has been extended for another three years period until 2023. The Swedish 3Rs Center was inaugurated in November 2017 and is organised as a special branch within the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

Today the 3Rs Center has nine team members: an operations manager, seven administrative officers and a communications officer.

Report: Mission to initiate the formation of a competence center for 3Rs issues (in Swedish)

Recommendations and guidelines

The National Committee decides what recommendations or guidelines the Center are to produce. The recommendations are aiming to help organisations and professionals in the field to improve their work. They are not imperative, but should be used as a support. They are not to be confused with general guidelines from the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Over the years, two recommendations have been published:

Marking and tagging fish 

Together with external experts, the Swedish 3Rs Center has also compiled a report on common methods for marking and identifying fish. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are evaluated from an animal welfare as well as a users’ point-of-view. The  guideline includes both free-living fish and fish in animal facilities. 

Group housing of male mice 

The Swedish 3Rs Center has together with external experts run a project to provide recommendations to Swedish facilities when it comes to group housing for male mice to avoid aggression. The basis for the recommendations is mainly experiences collected from animal technicians, veterinarians and researchers at Swedish laboratory animal facilities.

Future recommendations 

Ongoing projects to compile information and produce recommendations include the areas of housing of rabbits, substrates for fish, euthanasia of mice and acclimatization of rats, mice and zebrafish.

Publications from the Swedish 3Rs Center (jordbruksverket.se)

A Replace strategy for progress in Sweden

The idea to compile a national Replacement strategy was initially raised at a workshop organized by the Swedish 3Rs Center in 2019. Since then, the National Committee and the 3Rs Center have been working to form such a strategy, to make sure we involve everyone concerned and to produce a path and a guidance for future work. 

The strategy will, first and foremost, be used by the National Committee as a help in developing replacement related issues, but we hope that it will also serve as an inspiration for other stakeholders. 

One cornerstone in the work is to have an open dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure that the content is relevant and well anchored. During 2021 and 2022 we have organised interactive webinars and workshops within the National Committee and together with external stakeholders to collect information to build the strategy from. 

In 2022 the committee itself has focused on definitions, focus areas, limitations and goals. We have held a first workshop with external stakeholders to discuss the current version of the strategy; a workshop that will be followed by several others during the up-coming months. These workshops will hopefully lead to modified and relevant examples of actions to incorporate into the strategy. 

The final version of the strategy will be decided by the National Committee, made public and disseminated to all stakeholders, hopefully in 2023. The strategy will influence the Committee's operational work within the Replace area for 2024 and beyond. It will also be used as a basis for cooperation and inspiration to others. 

Seminars, workshops and networks 

Besides the work with the strategy, the 3Rs Center has organised Replace-themed webinars and seminars, launched a national Replace network and initiated a LinkedIn-group for further discussions and networking. 

In May 2022 a special workshop on animal-free cell models was held on site at Lund University. The participants could then visit the labs, and take part in several hands-on demonstrations of in vitro techniques during the day. 

In January 2023 we will arrange a seminar in Gothenburg that has a focus on animal-free research methods to study the human brain. The seminar is intended for researchers and other stakeholders with an interest in neuroscience and alternative methods.

The animal welfare bodies

The animal welfare bodies are one of our most important target groups and an important 3Rs connection for reaching organisations and individuals working with animal experiments and animals inresearch. 

We work continuously to keep in touch with the animal welfare bodies and to answer their questions or suggestions for action. For example, we have asked them for feedback when it comes to improve the parts of 3Rs in the ethical application form and asked for ideas and key persons to interview in a project on tissue and surplus animal sharing. They give ideas for themes to our annual meetings and seminars. 

Initiatives from the animal welfare bodies 

Examples of initiatives that have been implemented in our work are group housing of rabbits, harmonisation of the animal welfare bodies’ work and investigations regarding enrichments and marking of mice.

In our future work we will implement initiatives such as summarizing changes to ethical permits approved by animal welfare bodies, creating a hands-on workshop for large animal handling and training, recommendations for single housing of mice and acclimatization of large animals.

Annual national meeting 

Every year, we organise a national meeting for all Swedish animal welfare bodies. This is an opportunity for us to share knowledge, but mainly for the animal welfare bodies to come together and interact. Every year is a chance for them to share good examples of their work, to inspire each other. In 2022, the annual meeting was held in Lund. In 2023 the meeting will be held in Stockholm on October 17. 

Besides the national meeting, we also offer local meetings or visits. We then get the opportunity to meet the animal welfare bodies more closely and can then talk to them about current topics, but also get direct feedback and help in our projects. 

Good 3Rs examples to share 

Another way to make sure that the animal welfare bodies are connecting is to describe their local work in other ways than at conferences. At the Center’s website we publish interviews and articles about the 3Rs work going on all over Sweden. The natural entrance to these stories is the animal welfare body. 

You can find all these interviews on our website, but the majority of them are only published in Swedish.

Focus and facts: Good examples of 3Rs (in Swedish) (jordbruksverket.se)

Workshops on stress-reduced handling and training of mice and rats

In recent years, it has become increasingly common to talk about a refined handling of mice used for scientific purposes, but also to train both mice and rats. The Swedish research institute RISE has come a longway when it comes to handling and training, where they train their animals to accept injections and blood sampling. 

The plan was already in 2020 for the National Committee and RISE to educate and train Swedish facilities in handling and training, but we had to change our plans due to the pandemic. Instead, we adjusted and developed a virtual education, which we could launch in 2021. Since then we have held 11 virtual workshops for national and international audiences, and we do have plans for more.

The workshop has been shaped slight differently for different audiences. A common content has been two lectures: a historical review and a practical part largely based on filmed handling situations. Some participants have discussed opportunities and issues in small groups, before a larger discussion took place with all attendees. Some participants have just been able to ask questions and to have a discussion in the large group. The discussions have to some extent focused on helping the participants to find pragmatic solutions to their issues. 

In 2021, we held local workshops with Swedish organisations in defined groups. On request, we launched the appreciated workshops in English in 2022 and have had five shortened workshops with attendees from all over the world. The workshops will continue on demand from now on.

Film as a tool to make change

In order to spread knowledge and to increase awareness of non-animal models to reduce and replace animal experiments, we produce short films that explain these methods in a simple and pedagogical way. 

The films are meant to be a starting point in discussions about animal experimentation and how to replace the animal models with non-animal alternatives. The films are meant to be used by anyone that wants to contribute to this discussion and work. 

The Center itself shows the films in several contexts such as webinars, meetings and other activities. They are included in an educational material for upper secondary school, among other things to explain computer models and advanced cell models.

The next film to be launched is set on stage at Uppsala University, where we meet and talk to researchers using cell models to replace animal models. We are also in the making of a film with different actors giving their perspectives on the development of replacement; researchers, funders, companies, government agencies and politicians. 

We will continue to use film as a channel to disseminate knowledge and as a tool to initiate talks and discussions about alternative methods.

Published films from the Swedish 3Rs Center (jordbruksverket.se)

Education material for upper secondary school

One of the 3Rs Center’s target group is young students. The National Committee identified a need for an educational material on research, animal experimentation and the 3Rs for upper secondary school. We then produced a public e-learning material that was launched in 2022. 

Three e-learning lessons 

The basic education has the form of three e-learning lessons on subjects such as science, scientific methods, animal experiments, the 3Rs, ethics and non-animal methods. Every lesson consists of texts, films, graphics, additional material, discussion tasks and knowledge tests. The lessons can be used together or separately. The lessons are:

• Welcome to the world of science! 
• Animal experiments, the 3Rs and ethics 
• Animal-free research 

In the first lesson – Welcome to the world of science! – one will learn how a researcher works with different scientific methods to answer a research question. The lesson introduces terms like animal models, non-animal models and the 3Rs. 

In the lesson called Animal experiments, 3Rs and ethics, the students will learn more about animal testing, and what the term 3Rs stands for. They also get to learn how to reason about animal experiments based on different ethical theories. 

In the third lesson, students will learn about animal-free research methods. For example, cell models and computational models and how we can use them to replace animal experiments. 

All lessons include extra materials and references for those who wants to study more and maybe do their final thesis or essay related to the 3Rs. We will regularly update the material with new films and other information that fits the material. 

The online material is available on a website that offers schools and teachers free materials and tools on important societal issues. A reference group of teachers and other pedagogues have used and evaluated the material during the work process. A special teacher’s guide is also published in addition to the educational material. 

Writing competition

In the end of 2022 we completed the material with a competition for students in writing. The theme is: How would a world without animal experiments look like? The competition will go live in February 2023 and is open for Swedish students at upper secondary schools.

The e-learning material about 3Rs in Swedish (gratisiskolan.se)

The European collaboration

National Committees collaboration 

The Swedish National Committee is part of a network for all national committees in Europe - the European NC Network. Sweden hosted a meeting in Stockholm already in 2019. This meeting focused mainly on planning the orientation for the network’s work and to find an understanding for common issues. The participants decided to meet once or twice a year with a rotating host. The official name of the network was decided to be European NC Network. 

During 2020 the pandemic changed the possibilities for meeting and the group didn’t meet until 2021, then virtually. Sweden was responsible for a workshop on harmonized training in the laboratory animal area, where, among others, the ETPLAS representative from Sweden and a representative from the Swedish consortium NCLASET presented their work. 

European 3Rs organisations collaboration 

In the European network for 3Rs organisations, EU3Rnet, the members share and disseminate information on each other’s work. The group has also collected information for a series of articles on the origin, work and future of the 3Rs centres in Europe. The first article in a series was published in May, 2022.

The Rise of Three Rs Centres and Platforms in Europe (journals.sagepub.com)

Together with five other 3Rs centres in Europe, we collaborate to arrange webinar series on the 3Rs, for example a series on animal-free cell models and ongoing research in Europe. The collaboration is an initiative taken by the British 3Rs Centre NC3Rs. The webinar series aim to draw attention to development of new methods and technologies within all 3Rs. In 2023 the group is planning a new webinar series about how to implement and sustain culture of care.

Strategic communication

A major task for the 3Rs Center is to compile and disseminate knowledge and good examples of 3Rs work. Strategic communication is the key to make this happen. Our communication shall lead to increased 3Rs knowledge and commitment among our target groups. 

Website and social media 

Digital channels are our main channels to reach out to our target groups. Various partners are helping us to pass on our message. Our website is bilingual: Swedish and English. We are also present in social media, mainly in the channels Twitter and LinkedIn.

Focus on the 3Rs 

Focus on the 3Rs is a digital letter where we focus on the 3Rs as a complement to our news and articles at the website. Every edition has a special theme, where we share good examples and present new research and development. It aims to researchers, staff at animal facilities or others who encounter animals in research or animal-free research.

Interviews and good examples 

In parallel with the focus letter, we publish articles and interviews about good examples, ongoing research and development within the 3Rs. We want to highlight and increase knowledge of new methods and approaches with examples from Swedish universities, companies and authorities. It is also important to share good examples of practical 3Rs work in Swedish operations and at animal facilities. 

Film and infographic 

We also use film as a channel for disseminating knowledge to different target groups. We have produced several animated films on replacement and specific non-animal models. Our next films will be filmed on site, to showcase methods and models that are already being used to replace animal experiments. The first researcher’s film will be published early in 2023 and will show non-animal methods to study drug delivery in the human body. 

Another way of packaging complex information is to design an infographic, with illustrations, icons and flow charts to describe a procedure or a method. We have for example published infographics about development, evaluation and formal validation of new test methods.

Focus and facts about the 3Rs (jordbruksverket.se)