Stevens, C., Dobbinson, K., Brook, E. et al. 2022. Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 21(2), 83-91.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 28 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and share experiences of the implementation of the 3Rs of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement with respect to rodent use. This year’s meeting was held online for the second year running and attracted nearly 500 registrants from all over the world. The day included sessions on ‘Evaluating Enrichment’ and ‘Better Welfare Equals Better Science’. Session 1: ‘Evaluating Enrichment’. This session began by highlighting a new, online resource to help Animal Technologists evaluate enrichment. This was followed by presentations on experimental design, Animal Welfare science methods, examples of enrichments to trial and a tool for auditing outcomes. Session 2: ‘Better Welfare Equals Better Science’. This session began by looking at aggression in male mice and its impact on welfare and science; first taking an epidemiological approach and then focussing on aggression within oncology studies. The third presentation provided an update on new research into the effects of light on mouse behaviour and welfare. This report summarises the meeting and ends with a list of action points for readers to consider raising at their own establishments.