Research Involving Animals – Division of Biomedical Services
Work experience placements
Work experience placements can be offered between 1 - 5 days during a working week, depending on the interests of the individual. Our work experience placements are aimed at students interested in working with animals in a laboratory environment. We can also consider A-Level students that are interested in biomedical science, for a shorter placement. We currently are full for work experience placements for 2022 - 2023 academic year.
Placement history
In June 2022 we were joined by a final year Biological Sciences student interested in studying veterinary medicine. During the three days they were with us they were able to:
- See the induction process for entering our animal unit
- Shadow animal technicians undertaking husbandry tasks for mice, rats and rabbits
- View cardiac surgery being performed
- Speak to some of our scientists, PhD students and our Vet about their work and career paths
We received some brilliant feedback from this work experience placement:
I would like to thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity to learn more about the animal research facility. I really enjoyed how I was able to witness and learn new things each day, and learn more about animal testing. I have learned a lot, especially how rigorous and strict the regulations are in this field, to ensure the procedures are humane and beneficial for scientific breakthroughs, as well as the diverse range of career paths available
2019
In February 2019, a student in their second year of A Levels had an interest in Genetics and spent a week with us. During that time, they received the following experience:
- full induction that included health and safety requirements and tour of the facility
- shadowed animal technicians with a number of difference species: rats, fish and rabbits
- learnt how to health check an animal and helped in tasks such as replenishing water bottles
- tour of the imaging facility
During the summer of 2018 we were joined by a student studying veterinary medicine for a week's work experience.
See what they had to say about their work experience placement:
Currently I am studying veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh and have just completed my first year of the five year course. As a part of the degree vet students must do animal husbandry placements, working with a variation of different animal species. I decided to do my small mammal placement at the facility in Leicester because I’m interested in going into research in the future and I wanted to learn more about something I didn’t know much about beforehand. I really enjoyed learning about techniques used in animal handling and it was nice to be given many opportunities to practice this. I am very pleased I was able to spend a week at the facility as I feel I got a lot out of the placement.
Two students (GCSE and A Level) joined us in July 2018 to gain some experience in working in a research environment for the day. They covered the following:
- introduction on the law and ethics regarding using animals in research
- health and safety
- introduction to the imaging facility
- full tour of the unit
- transgenic services information
- spent time with technicians in the rat and fish rooms