Understanding Animal Research (UAR) is a British advocacy group. It formed in late 2008 through the merger of two existing groups - the Research Defence Society and the Coalition for Medical Progress. Its main aims are to "achieve understanding and acceptance of the need for humane animal research in the UK"[1]. Its current Chief Executive is Dr. Simon Festing, formerly executive director of the Research Defence Society[2].
Its website says that it is a membership organisation with over 100 organisational members and many more individual supporters[3]. It is funded by its members who come from various sectors including academic, pharmaceutical, charities, research funders, professional and learned societies, and trades unions - all of whom support the use of animals for medical research. UAR believe that animal research is vital to the future of medical research, Dr. Festing was quoted by The Scotsman saying "there are still many things we just can't do without using animals. We can't study movement or brain function in a test tube. We can't get computers to do things that are quite simple, such as catch a cough. It is about working towards treatments and cures for very devastating diseases, from hepatitis to Parkinson's."[4]
In conjunction with the Understanding Animal Research Website[5] the organisation has created Animalresearch.Info,[6] a wiki-style collaborative website for scientists and researchers to add peer-reviewed, fully referenced information on animal research[7].