PhD in Herd-specific sustainable culling and reproduction strategies in dairy cattle herds

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Animal and Veterinary Sciences programme. The position is available from 01 March 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title
PhD in Herd-specific sustainable culling and reproduction strategies in dairy cattle herds

Research area and project description
Are you passionate about contributing to a sustainable future for dairy farms and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions? Join our engaged team working on innovative management solutions and economic analyses for the green transition of dairy production. The Ph.D. position is available from 1st March 2025 or later.

The primary objective of this Ph.D. project is to create new knowledge and develop tools for decision support, which can be an aid to the farmer and relevant industry players in creating an industry for the future which is profitable, climate efficient and with increased animal welfare awareness. The main focus of the tools is culling and reproduction strategies.

The project will include the following tasks:

1. Assessing welfare impact of production-related diseases, moreover farmer and consumer perceptions of longevity. Creating a model of animal welfare loss using WALY as indicator. Evaluations of consumer, expert and farmer perceptions together with a literature study will be crucial in this phase.
2. Assessing the climate impact of culling and production-related diseases. Investigating available models to both estimate enteric methane but also the possibility of using LCA methods in modelling methods to estimate total farm GHG emissions.
3. Assessing the economic impact of culling and production-related diseases. Utilizing already implemented model framework and testing the simulation outputs against estimates present in the literature.
4. Gathering a full model that can suggest improved figures for the reproductive and culling strategy for part 1, 2 and 3 and in combination. These models will be tested using real herds.
5. Assessing how preventive measures and overall increased health will influence part 4. Utilizing data from previous/current projects and published studies to look further into prevention costs.

The Ph.D. project is a part of national and EU initiatives focused on the green transition of dairy production through improved herd health management.
As a Ph.D. student, you will be employed in the Section for Management and Modelling. Here, we collaborate on various national and international projects to develop advanced methods and tools for herd management. Our goal is to promote animal welfare, green transition, and economic viability for a sustainable future.

Project description
For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences
Applicants must have a relevant Master’s degree (120 ECTS). Candidates with background in animal science, veterinary science, biology, and economy are preferred.

Place of employment and place of work
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.

Contacts
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

• Søren Østergaard, [email protected] (main supervisor)
• Peter T. Thomsen, [email protected] (co-supervisor)

How to apply
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 01 January 2025 at 23:59 CET

Preferred starting date is 01 March 2025.

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.