Master of Veterinary Public Health

The course introduces the concepts associated with basic epidemiology, e.g. study objectives and hypotheses, study design, nature of data, data management and measures of frequency and association. The focus is on practical application of the concepts, by writing the outline of a protocol for carrying out an observational study and by practical data management using SAS or R. One didactic week of lectures and exercises is followed by 4 weeks supervised individual protocol writing. The protocol is used as the basis for an oral exam.

This is an advanced course focusing on statistical methods used in epidemiology to analyze continuous, dichotomous and count data. The aim of the course is to enable the participant to establish the association between hypotheses, data and suitable analyses - and to carry out, present and interpret the results of such analyses on their own data in the form of (an outline of ) a manuscript for an international journal. One didactic week of lectures and exercises is followed by 4 weeks supervised individual project and an oral exam based on the project report

The course gives general knowledge and competences to develop and implement methods and strategies for control, eradication and prevention of infectious and zoonotic diseases in production animals. Focus is also on collaboration, responsibility and lines of command between involved parties. The course consists of a 6-week long e-learning period (estimated work load on average 1-2 hours per day) and one week on-campus teaching and examination.

The course includes a review of disease control options and gives insight in disease dependent concepts, the theory of epidemic dynamics and the application of GIS. Based on scientific input and simulated output, the participant trains in choosing the optimal disease control strategy. One week of on-campus tuition is followed by 6 weeks of e-learning (estimated work load on average 1-2 hours per day). Students are evaluated by continuous assessment of participation and a final 24 hr examination.

With focus on probability distributions, analyses and underpinning theorems, its processes and predictive value, the participant is introduced to techniques for developing risk assessment models as support for selecting the best disease control strategy. The course consists of one week on-campus tuition followed by a 6-week period of e-learning. The estimated work load is on average 1-2 hours per day. Students are evaluated by continuous assessment of participation and a final 24 hr examination

The main topics are theoretical and applied animal health economics. The focus is on basic economic theory and on decision support systems and how to evaluate the economical effects and consequences of measures taken through disease control programmes in production animal systems. One week of on-campus tuition is followed by an 8-week long e-learning period (estimated work-load on average 2 hours per day) and a final 24 hr examination.

The master project is a scientific study based on empirical data, theories, techniques and methods acquired in modules 1-4. The master thesis must be written in English and the University provides expert supervision throughout. The thesis must be defended at an oral exam.