PhD fellowship in AI models for detection and assessment of tail lesions in pigs at Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences,

University of Copenhagen

We are offering a PhD fellowship in Porcine Herd Health Management commencing 1 April 2025 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Our group and research
Our research group is working within different areas of Porcine Herd Health Management, including herd diagnostics, prevention and prudent use of antibiotics for infectious and non-infectious diseases in pigs.

The group consists of professors, senior researchers and research assistants, post docs, PhD students and residens of ECPHM.

Project description

The aim of the project is to investigate the potential of using artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose pigs with tail lesions that require treatment or are not fit-for transport. This will enable more pigs to be manged correctly in terms of treatment and transportation to the slaughterhouse.

The project is developed and coordinated with the Danish Agriculture & Food Council and is carried out as a 3-year PhD project at the University of Copenhagen and consists of 4 coherent work packages (WP1-4).

WP1 identifies the challenges related to the detection, assessment and handling of pigs with tail lesions, including assessment of transport suitability. WP2 investigates which existing deep-learning models (AI models) have the greatest potential to learn to identify and/or diagnose tail lesions that is at the level of a human expert/veterinarian. AP3 will investigate whether the most valid AI model from AP2 can be used and improved with thermographic recordings, and AP4 will create a pilot project where the experiences and AI models from AP2+3 are used to assess the fitness-for-transport of pigs with umbilical hernia.

The effects of the project will be to develop a cheap, effective and easy-to-use tool that can facilitate workflow and help with decision-making regarding sick and injured animals in the stables, including assessment of fitness for transport. The project is thus expected to contribute to the development of more pigs that are not tail-docked by empowering producers and transporters to handle more pigs with intact tails in the pig-production.

Principal supervisor is Professor Ken Steen Pedersen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, [email protected], Direct Phone: +45 30576336.

Start: 1 April 2025.

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carry through an independent research project under supervision

• Complete PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approx. 30 ECTS points
• Participate in active research environments including a stay at another research team
• Obtain experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teach and disseminate your knowledge
• Write a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project e.g. Veterinary Medicine

Other important criteria are:

• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• Curious mind-set with a strong interest in Porcine Herd Helath Management
• Language skills

Place of employment

The place of employment is at Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment.

Terms of employment
The employment as PhD fellow is full time and for 3 years.

It is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary begins around 30,700 DKK /approx. 4,100 EUR (April 2024-level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Master of Science diploma and transcript of records. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor will do. For PhD applicants: Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: Assessment database — English (ufm.dk) Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 20 December 2024, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 2 to 3.

The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences comprises approximately 7500 students, 1500 PhD students and 3200 employees. The Faculty advances the field of health sciences through its core activities: research, teaching, knowledge sharing and communication. With basic research fields ranging from molecular studies to studies of society, the Faculty contributes to a healthy future through its graduates, research findings and inventions benefitting patients and the community. The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.