Programme

This module is structured around courses that provide participants with a comprehensive foundation in aquaculture health principles, techniques, and challenges. It covers basic aspects of health management, such as disease management, virology, microbial management, and immunology, and is taught by Ghent University experts from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Faculty of Sciences. Several invited speakers further enrich the in-house teaching, offering diverse perspectives and expertise.

This learning focuses on the interaction between aquaculture practices, ecosystems and fish health. Courses focus on health and welfare of fish in aquaculture operations, design and management of sustainable recycling aquaculture systems, methods to address environmental challenges in aquaculture, exploring the interactions between aquaculture practices and the surrounding environment and training in the ethical use of fish in research.

This module starts with a 2-days visit to aquaculture companies and stakeholders at the coast of central Norway. In this visit the students experience current aquaculture production technologies and challenges experienced by the industry. Finally, the students get possibility of practical experience through placement in a relevant aquaculture company or organization.

This learning focuses on the sustainable production of aquatic organisms while addressing the interconnected challenges of fish/animal health, environmental impact, and food security. Students will develop expertise in designing ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable aquaculture systems, with a strong emphasis on circularity and resource efficiency. A key component is understanding how nutrition influences health and disease resistance, enabling students to develop strategies that enhance immune responses and reduce dependency on antibiotics, including the use of innovative tools such as next-generation vaccines.

This learning track integrates cutting-edge research with practical applications, preparing graduates to contribute to resilient and environmentally responsible aquaculture practices.

In this track students focus on fish and aquatic animals’ health and welfare, based on the physiology and pathology of aquaculture species, the interaction between aquaculture and environment in terms of its consequences of fish health, the prevention, prophylaxis and treatments of fish against diseases. In this track, emphasis will be put on the welfare aspects of fish, including the scientific evidence of stress and pain, critical welfare points such as transport, crowding and stunning, behaviour of the concerned species, and experimental and operational welfare indicators. As well as the different ways for culturing aquatic species will be addressed, in order to be able to focus on effective sustainability of the sector and its relation to the market and human safety.

The thesis is the culmination point of the programme as it requires the students to integrate previously acquired knowledge and competences, independently plan and carry out experimental work, analyse and discuss results in a sound scientific matter, harness generic skills such as co-working, visualising concepts, presenting and publicly addressing an audience.

Students select a research topic of their interest from a list compiled by all AquaH partners and the large network of associated partners*. They formulate a research hypothesis and resolve it through field work, laboratory analysis, desktop calculations and any other appropriate method. They present final results in written form (thesis) and defend their thesis orally for an audience of supervisors, independent reviewers and fellow students.

* for students following the WU track thesis is compulsory at WU