Training

Mandatory training

The university regularly co-organises training sessions on animal experimentation and welfare for research staff, enabling them to design and perform experiments on small animals by respecting strict ethical and regulatory principles. Training is mandatory for any person working in the animal facilities. Those training sessions correspond to the requirements defined by the EU Directive 2010/63/EU and the Règlement Grand-Ducal of the 11th January 2013. They follow the guidelines developed by the EU for a common education and training framework and recommendations of the FELASA (Federation of European Laboratory Science Experimentation). Certificates will be delivered at the end of each session.

There are 2 types of session:

  • Function A
    This training is intended for research staff carrying out procedures on animals and concentrates on care and handling of animals as well as health and welfare. Completion of the training gives the authorisation to enter an animal facility and conduct experiments.

  • Function B
    This training is intended for researchers who do not only perform experiments but also design procedures and projects and submit them for ethical approval. Here, a special focus is put on ethical aspects as well as on reduction in animal use and possible alternatives.

Those training comprised theoretical courses, practical workshops as well as E-learning modules using an online platform and are followed by exams. The Function A training is organised every year between October and November (e-learning in October, in class and practical teaching and final exam in November). The Function B training is organised every two years during spring. The next one will be in spring 2026.

University staff is informed by email about upcoming sessions. If you are interested in one of these trainings, you can also contact the university dedicated veterinarians: Jennifer Behm and Theano Andriopoulou.

Price: 200 euros for internal participants (LIH, UL, LCSB). 600 euros for external participants.

Continuous professional development webinars

The university also organises monthly webinars as continuing education is key in animal research. This programme helps researchers to stay up to date, to learn the latest best practices and to get ready to implement them at the university.

Past webinars are listed below:

1. How to implement blinding within in vivo research
16 May (13:00 – 14:00)
Dr Natasha Karp (Director Biostatistics, AstraZeneca)

Blinding is considered a gold standard methodological strategy to reduce the risk that staff involved in the research may consciously or subconsciously influence the outcome. However, it is rarely implemented. This raises the question why? In this seminar, I will share the results from our interviews with scientists looking to understand what was happening and could happen in reality in their experiments. We identified examples of great practice but also significant barriers to implementing blinding. Reflecting on our findings, we offer practical solutions to enable researchers to implement blinding as standard.

Reference: A qualitative study of the barriers to using blinding in in vivo experiments and suggestions for improvement, Plos Biology, November 2022.

2. Improving experimental design: why we need to and resources to help us
6 June (11:00 – 12:00)
Dr Esther Pearl (Program Manager – Experimental Design, NC3Rs)

The talk will cover the importance of good experimental design, key things we can do to improve our experiments and resources that can help us implement best practice.

3. The NC3Rs 3Rs-Selfassessment-tools: What are they? How can they be beneficial for us and for your research group?
21 June (13:00 – 14:00)

Dr Jessica Eddy (Regional Programme Manager, NC3Rs) During the webinar it will be explained how the tools are working, which benefits the assessment can bring and how to use the tools. I am going to invite you afterwards to perform the self-assessment within your groups and we will discuss the outcome of the assessments in a workshop all together and share options or try to find all together approaches on how to improve the different topics.

4. Interactive Workshop about the 3R-Selfassessment
4 July (13:00 – 16:00)
Jennifer Behm (Veterinarian, University of Luxembourg)

We are going to discuss the outcome of the 3R-self-assessments in this workshop all together and share options or try to find new approaches on how to improve the different topics within your groups and for all of us together. This workshop is reserved to university researchers.

5. Preregistration in Animal Research
28 June 2024 (11:00 – 12:00)
Julia Menon, Daily Director of Preclinicaltrials.eu

6. Affimer – A versatile alternative to antibodies
19 July 2024 – 11:00-12:00
Dr Christian Tiede, University of Leeds

7. The Legal Significance of Surplus Animals
16 August 2024 – 14:00
Tobias Wagenknecht, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)

8. A 3-stage strategy to improve the efficiency and reproducibility of your experiments
16 October 2024 – 15:00-16:00
Dr Simon Bates, Prof. Clare Standford

9. Zebrafish as a Model for Neuroscience Research
18 October 2024 – 14:00
Svante Winberg, Uppsala University, Sweden

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