THE University of Central Lancashire won an award this week - one of 10 institutes around the country to be singled out for their 'grotesque and pointless scientific research'.

Their prize in the Mad Science Awards was for 'outstanding investigations into the effects of brain damage on rats'.

According to the group which runs the contest, Animal Aid, part of the Animal Abuse, Injustice and Defence Society, scientists from Preston have been mutilating rats' brains by inserting an electrode, giving them an electric shock and a dose of an unnamed chemical. The rats displayed 'circling' behaviour. The UCLa said the research was conducted by one of their professors working in Liverpool.

A spokesperson for UCLa said the work was licensed by the Home Office because of its scientific merit, and entailed a study of the brain potentially involved in a range of medical conditions in humans such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and hyperactivity.

But Animal Aid's director Andrew Tyler said: "Psychology experiments on animals cause incalculable suffering." The UCLa spokesperson added: "As far as possible the University uses animal material from the abattoir - these animals are being processed for the food industry."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.