It was 'thumbs up' all the way through from a group of satisfied students who attended a PhD course in interpreting animal stress responses held in January. Senior scientists, Jens Malmkvist and Mette S. Herskin, from the Department of Animals Health and Bioscience at the University of Aarhus, who had organised the course, are pleased with the impressively good feedback from the course's 21 students, who came from universities in Denmark, Holland, Sweden and the USA.

Dr Herskin said: "All told, the students gave the course 4.7 points out of a possible 5.0 points based on several criteria. Naturally, we think that is great. A PhD course is hard to plan and organise so it is very satisfying when the students appreciate the work you have done."

She believes that the thorough job of preparation was one reason for the good response. Other reasons are that the subject matter is very timely and that top-notch scientists were invited to come and teach.

She added: "We focused on, among others things, hormonal analysis and the effect of domestication on behavioural and physiological stress responses in animals. We also had practical exercises at Research Centre Foulum in which the students had the opportunity to use their newly acquired knowledge in current research projects."

The course regarding interpretation of animal stress responses has now been held twice. The first time was in 2009 and Dr Herskin hopes that it will be possible to find funds to repeat the course in 2013.