InterRisk Master's Programme Year 1

The first year of the curriculum solidifies students’ knowledge on basic concepts within microbiology, biostatistics, and epidemiology. Students are also trained in research methodology. 

One Health and Basic Knowledge

The first year curriculum introduces One Health concepts to students. It also covers basic knowledge surrounding the microbiology of infectious agents, parasitology, immunology, biostatics and epidemiology. The year starts with One Health approaches for infectious diseases. This serves two purposes: For baccalaureates in biosciences, this module allows them to revisit their knowledge with respect to One Health. Yet, for Master's students with a background in ecology or social sciences, this first module is used to further remedy gaps in knowledge in infectiology. The first year of the programme introduces the different categories of human and animal diseases, their modes of transmission (direct, indirect ...), and their economic importance. A brief reminder of the biological and clinical description of the most important diseases in South East Asia is also covered. Mechanisms of virulence and pathogenesis of bacteria, viruses and parasites are reviewed. This module also presents antimicrobial resistance issues with the associated public health consequences.

Immunology

The second module addresses applied immunology. It introduces the main mechanisms involved during an immune response against a pathogen and the escape mechanisms to this response. The teachings present the approaches used for the development of an experimental diagnosis of bacterial or viral infection and focus on the choice of appropriate strategies for field diagnostic. The implementation of therapy or prophylaxis on the field is also discussed, for both animal and human populations.

The Ecology of Vector-Borne and Parasitic Zoonotic Diseases

Two modules are dedicated to the ecology of vector-borne and parasitic zoonotic diseases, respectively. These modules are based on a systemic approach to disease, and will focus on the mechanisms that explain assemblage process in pathogen communities plus the distribution of the species and the emergent properties within ecosystems. At the end of these modules, students are familiar with the concepts and methods used in the study of biotic factors of transmission.

Diseases presented in Year One include Japanese encephalitis and cysticercosis, which serve as pedagogic examples for illustrating the strength of One Health collaboration for understanding the emergence of vector-borne and parasitic zoonosis.

Production Systems

In a “production systems” module, students gain a deep insight into the technical and economic aspects of farming systems and become able to understand sustainability issues from an holistic perspective. The variety of farming systems present in South East Asia will be examined, with their technical and economic constraints, as well as the challenges they pose regarding environment and health preservation. Students also learn the principles of biosecurity and its evaluation. Focus is placed on health risks at the animal-human interface within cattle, swine and poultry farming systems.

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The first year curriculum allows students to gain skills in epidemiology and biostatistics. In this discipline-orientated module, students will learn to use basic statistical tools such as graphical representations, indicators of position or dispersion, construction of confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing.

This module also introduces the discipline of epidemiology, its definition and its scope, with examples of issues that can be addressed. Large study schemes and measures in epidemiology are outlined (incidence, prevalence, value predictive tests, measures of associations). Then, this section of the course reviews in detail the sources of error in epidemiology and approaches that limit the preparation and the implementation of an investigation. Special attention is given to the process of results interpretations and critical reading, based on One Health examples.

Core Skills

The first year curriculum also proposes core education modules on scientific English, database management, scientific output and literature review, and field training preparation.