Question: What do you spend your money on?

Louise Pendry answered on 15 Mar 2010:

Hi,
I spend my money primarily on renting a chicken shed (my laboratory) for the chickens which is very expensive due to lots of hidden costs. Much less money is spent on building equipment (such as mazes) and feeding the chickens. I also spend some money on communicating my science. Money is also needed to pay me and anybody else who helps me with my research.

The reason why housing the chickens costs so much is that my research is carried out under Home Office Licence. The Home Office (part of the goverment) makes sure that scientists using animals in research are looking after the animals properly so we have to have to conform to regulations and codes of practice. This is necessary but it is also very expensive. For example, the research organisation that I rent my chicken shed from has to provide a vet and a welfare officer who make sure that I am looking after my birds properly. These costs are reflected in how much I pay to rent the shed/lab.
If you are interested in finding out more about regulations surrounding animal testing check out the Home Office website.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/animal-testing/indexe42d.html?version=1