A modern vivarium is changing quickly. Teams are moving away from training that depends on shadowing and paper SOPs toward digital, visual, and standardized systems that reduce interpretation and help new staff reach competency faster.
Several forces are driving this shift: pressure on workforce retention, growing expectations around animal welfare, more attention to reproducibility, and new opportunities from digital tools and automation. To understand what this means for research organizations, let’s explore five trends shaping the future of vivarium training and influencing how teams build skills, maintain quality, and work across global sites.