The 3Rs and the Culture of Care Webinar Series

Join us for our monthly webinar series designed to educate scientists about the 3Rs of animal research and support a culture of care.

Harm-Benefit Analysis in Animal Research

October 14, 2026, 1:00 PM, Baxter I Auditorium

In any modern animal trial that is reviewed by an ethics committee, the pertinent question is asked whether the harm caused to the animals by the trial procedure is justified in terms of the benefit that the trial may have. The objectives of animal trials can differ vastly, such as animal trials for medical purposes (e.g. new drugs and procedures), for husbandry purposes (e.g. animal production) and for conservation and ecological studies (e.g. biodiversity assessments). In all of these trials, the benefit of the trials must clearly outweigh the harm that the animals may encounter as a result of the trial. In many trials, this is very easy to assess and to approve, but in some trials, it does become complex, and all of the factors contributing to the benefit and the harm must be weighed up carefully to conclude whether the trial may be permitted to proceed or not. In animal ethics, complex formulas have been developed in an effort to quantify benefit and harm to allow meaningful comparisons. In this webinar, Prof Bellstedt will introduce the topic, describe a model for harm-benefit assessments, and show how this can be applied in a few examples using a small spreadsheet.