A very warm welcome to the new doctoral candidates of the Research Training Group 3051/1 "Assessment of Behaviour and Stress Responses to Understand and Improve Veterinary Infectious Disease Models".  Following a highly productive selection process in December 2025 in Berlin, during which we had the pleasure of engaging with an outstanding group of international candidates, we are delighted to announce that all nine doctoral researcher positions have now been successfully filled. We are currently finalising the necessary employment formalities and look forward to welcoming everyone back to Berlin on April 1, 2026.