Workshop: Systematic Reviews and Harm-Benefit Assessment

This workshop is aimed at researchers planning experiments which may involve animals, members of national committees and animal welfare bodies, and all those involved in the evaluation of animal research.

Programme outline

Documentation of literature searches and harm-benefit assessment are two requirements of EU's Directive 2010/63. Systematic reviews of published animal experiments are a useful aid in planning research and can also be used to extract new conclusions from experiments which have already been performed. The EU Directive will in all probability be transposed in Norwegian legislation in 2015.

The workshop will give theoretical and practical training in how to conduct literature searches and systematic reviews of the laboratory animal science literature. In addition, it will give an introduction to the harm-benefit assessment of animal experiments.

The theoretical and practical training in systematic reviews will be led by representatives of SYRCLE (SYstematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal Experimentation) at Radboud Medical University Center, Nijmegen.

The discussion of harm-benefit assessment will be led by Dr. Penny Hawkins, Head of the Research Animals Department at the RSPCA, UK and Dr. Aurora Brønstad, University of Bergen, who was the co-chair of an AALAS-FELASA working group on this subject.

Advice on literature searching and available databases will be provided by Professor Adrian Smith, Norecopa. Several of these resources have been produced by Norecopa, which is Norway's national consensus-platform for the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experiments.

Programme:

Wednesday 27 May

• 0900-0930: Registration
• 0930-1000: Welcome and background information (A. Brønstad)
• 1000-1100: Harm-Benefit Assessment: EU legislation and UK experience (P. Hawkins)
• 1100-1200: Harm-Benefit Assessment: Working Group Report  (A. Brønstad)
• 1200-1300: Lunch
• 1300-1400: Where can we find 3R literature? (A. Smith)
• 1400-1500: Tools for better 3R-searches (A. Smith)
• 1500-1530: Coffee break
• 1530-1630: Systematic Reviews: introduction (SYRCLE rep.)

Thursday 28 May

All lectures by SYRCLE  representatives (SYstematic Review Centre for Laboratory Aanimal Experimentation) at Radboud Medical University Center, Nijmegen.

• 0900-0915: Identifying and selecting relevant studies for systematic review lecture)
• 0915-1030: Developing comprehensive search strategies
• 1030-1045: Inclusion/exclusion of animal studies (practical session)
• 1045-1100: Coffee break
• 1100-1115: Introduction study validity (lecture)
• 1115-1200: Criteria study validity (practical session)
• 1200-1300: Lunch
• 1300-1330: Assessing validity of animal studies (practical session)
• 1330-1415: Introduction data extraction and meta-analysis (lecture)
• 1415-1430: Coffee break
• 1430-1600: Practical data extraction and meta-analysis (practical session)
• 1600-1630: Summary

There may be minor changes in the programme.

Venue

The workshop will take place in beautiful surroundings at Fleischer's Hotel, Voss, close to Bergen, the gateway to the Norwegian fjords. The train from Bergen will take you to Voss, just by the hotel, after a 1 hour and 20 minutes' scenic journey.

Preparation for the workshop

Participants must bring their own personal computer with them. The program Review Manager 5 from the Cochrane Collaboration should be installed before the workshop.

Registration

Use this registration link. Registration deadline is April 14th. We look forward to welcoming you to the Systematic Reviews and Harm-Benefit Assessment Workshop!