Animal Welfare and Disease Control
The goal of this section is to conduct research related to veterinary science within the fields of bioethics, animal behaviour and epidemiology. The research focuses on identifying and describing patterns, associations and relationships, and using this knowledge to improve animal welfare, sustainability and profitability within animal production.
The subjects of animal welfare, prudent use of antibiotics, sustainable production systems and profitability for farmers are the core of the research in this group. This creates value for society in general because it develops and evaluates novel ways of optimizing animal welfare and profitability at both the farm and national level, including prioritising the prudent use of antibiotics.
Studies in animal behaviour and bioethics provide a foundation of basic knowledge, to create a better understanding of the interaction between people and animals.
Studies of disease spread and the effectiveness of control measures help farmers, vets and other people in the field to reduce spread of diseases. Moreover, all of the mentioned disciplines are combined in the One Health approach, improving the sustainability of co-existence for humans and animals at the same time.
Quote from head of section Hans Houe:
”We utilize knowledge from all biological and societal levels in an interdiciplinary and integrative approach. This way we address important research questions that simultaneously have relevance for many stakeholders.”
Project: Robuste kalve

The aim is to promote the breeding of robust calves by producing knowledge and tools for optimal health management of calves, with a focus on the first months of life, so that calf mortality and antibiotics-
consumption can be lowered.
Read more about "Robuste kalve" (in Danish)
Project: ACROBAT

Reduced use of AntimiCROBials in cAttle and poulTry. Read more about the ACROBAT project
- Book on evaluation of One Health initiatives: https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/book/10.3920/978-90-8686-875-9. One Health combines the disciplines of animal and human health and ecosystems. This is a handbook that provides an overview of concepts and processes as well as guidance on how to implement the One Health approach.
- Lahrmann, H. P., Hansen, C. F., D’Eath, R., Busch, M. E., & Forkman, B. (2018). Tail posture predicts tail biting outbreaks at pen level in weaner pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 200, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.12.006. This study shows that lowered tail postures in pigs can be utilized to predict tail biting outbreaks at pen level.
- Sandøe, P., Corr, S. A., Lund, T. B., & Forkman, B. (2019). Aggregating animal welfare indicators – Can it be done in a transparent and ethically robust way. Animal Welfare 28(1): 67-76. Serious challenges arise within the process of creating an index for animal welfare. In this study, we focus on the ethical aspects of this problem and discuss the different ways to proceed.
This section contributes knowledge, articles, and results within its core areas to the website Dyreetik.dk.
Dyreetik.dk is a web site run by the Faculty of Health at the University of Copenhagen. The person responsible for the site is Peter Sandøe, professor of animal ethics.
An English version of Dyreetik.dk is found at AnimalEthics.ku.dk. The aim of the site is to share insights and reflections regarding animal ethics and animal welfare. It contains academic papers and other academic publications which as far as possible are made available in an open access format. Furthermore it contains introductory texts aimed primarily at students, professionals and university teachers from veterinary and animal science and other branches of biology.
The section’s areas of expertise are
Bioethics:
- Veterinary ethics and science theory
- Science theory for students of the production animal sciences
- Responsible Conduct of Research (mandatory PhD course)
Ethology
- Ethology
- Forensic medicine and welfare evaluation
- Applied ethology
Veterinary epidemiology
We teach methods for investigating causes of the distribution of diseases, as well as methods and tools for combating diseases in populations. This includes the following courses:
- Basic statistics and epidemiology
- Epidemiology I: Planning a study
- Epidemiology II: Analyzing continuous, count and dichotomous data from observational studies
- Epidemiology III: Analysis of clustered data – with emphasis on veterinary- and animal science applications
- Diagnostic Test Evaluations
- Ad hoc courses
Interdisciplinary and applied areas
- Animals, humans and society
- Health and Welfare
- Equine nutrition and management
- Master of Veterinary Public Health: Risk Analysis of Animal Health and Food Safety
- Herd- and Societal Health
- Differentiation: Heart diseases
- Differentiation: Biomedicine
- Differentiation: Diseases in Family Animals
- Differentiation: Production animals
- Veterinary Forensic Medicine
- Master of Veterinary Public Health: Disease Outbreak Management
- Master of Veterinary Public Health: Disease Control and Dynamics - in a One Health Setting
- Master of Veterinary Public Health: Animal Health Economics
Head of Section
Professor Hans Houe
Mail: houe@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +45 353-33585
Address:
Grønnegårdsvej 8
DK-1870 Frederiksberg C
Group/project members
Name | Title | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
Agger, Jens Frederik Gramstrup | Associate Professor | +4535333013 | |
Al-Hussainy, Nour Shaker M Radha | Visiting Student | ||
Boklund, Anette Ella | Senior Adviser | +4535330847 | |
Brichet, Nathalia | Associate Professor | +4535337814 | |
Brogaard, Louise | Postdoc | +4535334262 | |
Bruun, Camilla Vibeke Sichlau | Associate Professor | +4535333067 | |
Byrgesen, Nanna Amalie Schrøder | Academic Research Staff | ||
Bødker, René | Senior Researcher | +4535325262 | |
Christensen, Ole Fredslund Borg | Guest Lecturer | ||
Christiansen, Stine B. | Senior Consultant | +4535333075 | |
Cirera, Susanna | Associate Professor | +4535333050 | |
Conrady, Beate | Associate Professor | +4535322309 | |
Denwood, Matt | Associate Professor | +4535332307 | |
Eriksson, Kari Bækgaard | PhD Fellow | +4535327185 | |
Farre, Anders Michael | No job title VIP | +4535327220 | |
Fitzwilliams, Therese Emilie Glar | Teacher´s Assistant | ||
Forkman, Björn | Professor | +4535333581 | |
Fredholm, Merete | Professor | +4535333074 | |
Gleerup, Karina Charlotte Bech | Assistant Professor | ||
Guldbrandtsen, Bernt | Professor | +4535334784 | |
Gussmann, Maya Katrin | Assistant Professor | +4535337510 | |
Hald, Tine Marianne | External Researcher | ||
Henningsen, Maj Beldring | PhD Fellow | +4535323708 | |
Hinrichsen, Caroline Ignatz | Teacher´s Assistant | ||
Houe, Hans | Professor | +4535333014 | |
Ibragimov, Emil | PhD Fellow | +4535332440 | |
Jakobsen, Minna | Laboratory Technician | +4521181184 | |
Jensen, Dennis Schultz | Attendant | +4540472789 | |
Jørgensen, Claus Bøttcher | Associate Professor | +4535333064 | |
Karlskov-Mortensen, Peter | Associate Professor | +4535333430 | |
Kirkeby, Carsten Thure | Senior Researcher | +4535337215 | |
Kjær, Lene Jung | Assistant Professor | +4535337290 | |
Kristensen, Jeanette | PhD Fellow | +4535334415 | |
Ladewig, Jan | Professor Emeritus | ||
Lemser, Camilla Engel | Visiting Student | ||
Liu, Yangfan | PhD Fellow | +4535323023 | |
Lützen, Annika Thorup | Teacher´s Assistant | ||
Mahler, Tina Bahrt Neergaard | Laboratory Technician. | +4521181184 | |
Mandel Briefer, Roi | Postdoc | ||
Meletis, Eleftherios | Guest Researcher | +4535335201 | |
Meyer, Iben | Assistant Professor | +4530233879 | |
Michelsen, Anne Marie | Academic Research Staff | +4535322475 | |
Nauta, Maarten Johannes | Visiting Teacher | ||
Nielsen, Camilla Kirketerp | No job title | +4527143148 | |
Nielsen, Liza Rosenbaum | Professor | +4535333015 | |
Nielsen, Søren Saxmose | Professor | +4535333096 | |
Otten, Nina Dam | Associate Professor | +4535331520 | |
Petersen, Louise Hedegaard | Teacher´s Assistant | ||
Reimert, Mossa Merhi | Research Assistant | +4535324135 | |
Rosenquist, Hanne | Visiting Teacher | +4551157402 | |
Sandøe, Peter | Head of Section | +4535333059 | |
Segel, Kathrine | Trainee | +4535326628 | |
Seressia, Jeanne | Visiting Student | +4535332897 | |
Skarbye, Alice Puk | Postdoc | +4535337680 | |
Skjølstrup, Nanna Krogh | Research Assistant | +4535323480 | |
Skovlund, Cecilie Ravn | Research Assistant | +4520270506 | |
Stelder, Jonno Jorn | PhD Fellow | ||
Stærk-Østergaard, Jacob | Assistant Professor | +4535333532 | |
Svennesen, Line | Postdoc | +4535337728 | |
Thuesen, Ida Sofie | External, Ph.d Student | +4535325237 | |
Troldborg, Nicoline Sisse | Teacher´s Assistant |