science

Research Defence Society

Research Defence Society is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Research Defence Society rather than just read about it. In short: The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group founded by Stephen Paget in 1908 to fight against the anti-vivisectionist "enemies of reason" at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of 2008, after being active for 100 years, it merged with the communications group Coalition for Medical Progress to form the advocacy group Understanding Animal Research.

Key takeaways

Research Defence Society belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Research Defence Society to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Research Defence Society from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group founded by Stephen Paget in 1908 to fight against the anti-vivisectionist "enemies of reason" at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of 2008, after being active for 100 years, it merged with the communications group Coalition for Medical Progress to form the advocacy group Understanding Animal Research. The Research Defence Society's aim was to disseminate information about, and to defend the use of, research involving animals, including animal testing. It represented the interests of 5,000 researchers and institutions. Its sources of funding changed over the hundred years that the society was active, and included individuals, government, the pharmaceutical industry and universities. The organisation's literature stated that it was funded by its members, including medical scientists, doctors, veterinarians, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, universities, and charities that support medical research. Its last executive director was Dr. Simon Festing, who became CEO of Understanding Animal Research. One campaign to demonstrate the support for animal research within the scientific and medical community was the co-signing of a petition in support of the use of animals in research called Declaration on Animals in Medical Research. The declaration was signed in 1990, and a modified version in 2005. Over 700 scientists, of whom 500 were British, signed the declaration in the first month, including three Nobel laureates, 190 Fellows of the Royal Society and the Medical Royal Colleges and over 250 academic professors.

Notes

References Understanding Animal Research website (the RDS site no longer exists) [1] Woods, Richard & Ungoed-Thomas, Jonathan. "A campaigning hero", Sunday Times, February 26, 2006

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Research Defence Society

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Research Defence Society claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Research Defence Society before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Research Defence Society ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Research Defence Society

In research: Research Defence Society appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Research Defence Society in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Research Defence Society is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Animal testing in the United Kingdom, Bioethics stubs, Organizations established in 1908, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Research Defence Society outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Research Defence Society in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Research Defence Society means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Research Defence Society out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Research Defence Society in simple terms?

Why does Research Defence Society matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Research Defence Society?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Research Defence Society.