Information for schools volunteers

The Understanding Animal Research volunteer scheme provides an opportunity for those who work with laboratory animals to help school students separate the myths from the facts, the science from the propaganda, when talking about animals in research.

If you work in animal research and would like to volunteer to speak in schools please email our education team.

 

Training

We can arrange training sessions that aim to answer and dispel any fears about speaking in schools. We provide you with a presentation framework and help you prepare for those difficult questions. Our aim is to help you develop and adapt your presentation skills to speak about this complex topic. It’s not just about talking to classes – we can suggest fun ways of engaging students and bringing your subject alive.

How long would I have to speak for?

We ask the schools to accommodate hour long sessions, 20 minutes for your talk and 40 minutes for questions and discussion.

Who can be a volunteer?

Anyone who has worked with animals for medical research and who feels passionate about communicating the truth about this subject to young people is eligible to be a volunteer.

What are the benefits?

Speaking to young people is a fun and exciting experience. Knowing that you are making an important contribution to the education of future scientists, technicians and citizens is extremely rewarding in itself. In addition, outreach is increasingly becoming an integral part of grant applications and Continuing Professional Development – you can use us as referees.

What support do I get?

We try to accompany speakers on their first visit or organise for you to accompany an experienced volunteer to one of their visits. We are developing other ways to support volunteers.

Commitment

We ask our volunteers to commit to one school visit per term, but it’s really up to you.

Schools information

  • Schools map April 2010Where are the schools? We have a constantly updated map of schools throughout the UK who have requested a speaker. Volunteer speakers may access the map once they have signed up for the volunteers' Google group. Email us to find out more. 
  • What age are the pupils? How many will I be talking to? This varies from school to school and may depend on the inclination of the volunteer, although we will only ask you to talk to secondary schools. Most talks are made to classes of about 30 pupils, but there are opportunities to talk to larger groups or even the whole of a school year. You just need to let us know what you prefer.
  • Will I receive any feedback? Yes, we ask the teachers to fill in a feedback form so you can continue to build on your presentation skills.

Some recommendations

Animal technologist

The change in public perception means I am more comfortable/secure in visiting schools and sharing the work we do. I feel it’s important for researchers and animal technologists to have the opportunity to try dispel untruths about animals being mistreated and to promote understanding both of the benefits we all experience from animal based research and very high standards of animal welfare within laboratories.From a personal perspective it helps me gather public perceptions of my work (I very much enjoy the Q&A sessions)and provides me with an excellent opportunity to develop my presentation skills.

PhD student

I have been doing school visits for UAR for a year now, and I don't intend to stop anytime soon. The children (and teachers usually as well!) gain an insight into what is really behind the development of a medicine and the role of animal research in that, and get to meet an actual researcher involved in the area. As a researcher you develop skills that definitely help your work. These for me have included gaining confidence speaking to a group, and adapting my research for a more general audience. And if you can handle a classroom full of inquisitive pupils, you can handle anything in research! My main motivation for getting involved with UAR was to dispel some of the myths surrounding animal research, and I think meeting us goes a long way to aiding this.

Researcher

I enjoy presenting and having the chance to fight our corner. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to see the students look at our industry in a new light. I guess that is both why I enjoy it and what I get out of it. It has given me confidence to stand up and present anywhere and to anyone, that is for sure! The skills I have learnt are really presentation ones but also I have learnt to talk to different people in different ways.

Student

I didn’t realise how well cared for the animals were, I used to not like it but now I understand why it’s necessary.

Teacher

The students really got a lot from it and were talking about it all day. I even had students from my other classes who are not studying this topic asking if they couldhave the presentation too!

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