Kia ora

 

Official information request for information related to the forced swim
test

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request
dated 7 December 2019.

 

We received your request on 7 December. We will endeavour to respond to
your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 24 January
2020, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we
are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an
extension of that timeframe.

 

If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your
request, please do not hesitate to contact me so that these can be taken
into account.

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Georgia Tawharu

Adviser, Information Access & Copyright

Legal Services

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

 

+-------------------+
|Phone +64 4 463 |
|5249 |
|-------------------|
|[1]www.wgtn.ac.nz ||
|0800 04 04 04 |
|-------------------|
+-------------------+

This message and any attachments may contain confidential information. If
you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately
and destroy any copies of this e-mail.

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/

Kia ora Kaitlyn

 

I refer to your request made under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
OIA) of 7 December 2019.

 

I advise that your request cannot be responded to in its current form. You
have not specified a timeframe for this request. Without a specific
timeframe, your request potentially encompasses a wide range of
information held across the University. Without further clarification, the
University will need to consider imposing a charge for the requested
information, or may need to refuse the request on the basis of substantial
collation. The University is prepared to work with you to ensure that we
can respond to your information request.

 

I have consulted with University staff and can confirm that some of the
information captured by your request is in the public domain in the form
of published theses here [1]http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/. The
University has also released the Animal Ethics Applications for the use of
the forced swim test from 2015 and 2018 in relation to a previous OIA
request. These applications include details on the use of the forced swim
test at the University. Please let me know if you would like to receive
these documents.

 

Please note, the forced swim test is used extensively and internationally
to model aspects of depression. Research employing the test is published
in top scientific journals with many hundreds of articles published each
year. This is not an annual test, it is only conducted when necessary.
There is no current work underway at Victoria University of Wellington
using the forced swim test. Previously when the test has been conducted,
approval was provided by the University’s Animal Ethics Committee (AEC).
The AEC oversee all animal testing at the University in line with the
Animal Welfare Act 1999. You can find out more about the AEC, including
membership, here:
[2]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/research/support/....

 

Please also note that the University closes today, and will reopen at 8am
on 6 January 2020.

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Georgia Tawharu

Adviser, Information Access & Copyright

Legal Services

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

 

Phone +64 4 463
5249
[3]www.wgtn.ac.nz |
0800 04 04 04

This message and any attachments may contain confidential information. If
you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately
and destroy any copies of this e-mail.

 

 

 

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