Use of animals in research policy
We fund research that uses animals if it is legal, ethical and scientifically justified and where there are no viable alternatives.
Most recent changes to this policy
- clarification that Wellcome will only fund animal research where there are no viable alternatives
- requirement to outline what alternative methods have been considered (at application stage)
- revised wording to make the policy more applicable to applicants and grantholders outside of the UK
- a new, streamlined format for this policy page, which separates our key requirements
Requirements for researchers and organisations we fund
To comply with our Terms and Conditions, you must:
- comply with local legislation
- obtain all required local ethical approvals before you start your research and maintain compliance throughout
- meet the 3Rs standards: Replacement, Reduction, Refinement
- use female and male sexes in your research where appropriate (including tissues, cells and cell lines)
- (for UK based research) obtain all macaques from the Centre for Macaques
- ensure appropriate oversight so any sub-awarded or regranted animal research is assessed and complies with this policy
Guidance for researchers and organisations
Animals covered by this policy
Animals covered by this policy are:
- any living vertebrate other than man and any living cephalopod
- foetal, larval or embryonic forms of these vertebrate which are:
- in the final third of their gestation or incubation period (for mammals, birds and reptiles)
- capable of independent feeding (for all other cases)
live cephalopods
The standards we expect
All research must:
- comply with local legislation and ethical review process, and
- meet the 3Rs standards
Research that takes place outside the UK must be carried out to welfare standards consistent with those in the UK. For information and guidance see the NC3Rs website.
For research taking place in the UK which involves the use of macaques, grantholders must get them from the MRC Centre for Macaques.
The 3Rs standards
The 3Rs are a globally recognised framework established for performing more humane animal research and are typically defined as:
- Replacement: accelerating the development and use of predictive and robust models and tools, based on the latest science and technologies, to replace the use of animals in addressing important scientific questions where they would otherwise have been used.
- Reduction: appropriately designed and analysed animal experiments that are robust and reproducible, and add to the knowledge base.
Refinement: advancing laboratory animal welfare by exploiting the latest in vivo technologies to minimise pain, suffering and distress and improve understanding of the impact of welfare on scientific outcomes.
At application stage
In your application, you will need to outline and justify:
- how you meet the 3Rs standards for any new experiments using animals or animal tissue or for analysing pre-existing data collected
- what alternative methods you have considered and why these are not suitable
- how you meet our sex and gender in health research policy
- the number of animals you will use
- the severity level for all procedures, ensuring this is the lowest possible
If you are using animals outside of the UK, you will be required to complete and upload an additional checklist to confirm that the minimum required standards will be met. You can find the relevant checklists on the NC3Rs website.
You should develop your research using the NC3R’s guidelines on the use of animals in research.
You can also use the Experimental Design Assistant (EDA), a free online tool to help with the design of experiments. You can add the outputs of the EDA as an appendix to your grant application.
You don't need to have the relevant regulatory or ethical approvals before you submit your grant application, but you must have them in place before you start your project.
At expert review stage
We send grant applications to the NC3Rs peer review process for independent review if the research involves cats, dogs, equidae or non-human primates.
This is in addition to the expert review we ask for as part of the grant application process.
The relevant Wellcome advisory committee will consider the NC3Rs’ review when they assess the grant application.
If we award a grant, funding may be conditional on the applicant addressing any concerns raised by NC3Rs.
When to contact us
You need to tell us if your use of animals changes during your grant. For example if:
- the number of animals you use is significantly more than the amount we funded
- there are any doubts about your research meeting the appropriate regulatory requirements
Openness in research
We're proud to have been one of the first signatories to the Concordat on Openness in Animal Research.
See our analysis of Wellcome grants involving animal research 2024/25.
Further resources
- read our grant conditions
- read our policy on sex and gender in health research policy
- read the Association of Medical Research Charity's statement on the use of animals in research
- Experimental Design Assistant a free online tool to help with experiment design
- NC3Rs: Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research guidance for researchers and associated veterinary and animal care staff who use live animals or animal products in bioscience research
- NC3Rs: ARRIVE guidelines to help improve the reporting of research using animals
- PREPARE guidelines for planning animal research and testing
Contact us
Contact our Funding Information Team if you have a question about funding.