Applications are invited for a PhD
fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Science and Technology, Aarhus
University, Denmark, within the Animal Science programme. The position is
available from 1 August 2014 or later.
Title:
Strategies for individual feeding of
concentrate to dairy cows – effects on production, health and welfare
Research area and project description:
A number of traits that can be used to
characterize the status of high producing dairy cows such as behaviour and
yield can be recorded automatically. Thus there is basic for development of new
feeding strategies that take advantage of the genetic potential for milk yield
at individual cow level. However, changing the concentrate delivery can change
the intake of the basal ration (forage) which in turn may increase the risk of
productions diseases. Furthermore, dynamic regulation of concentrate delivery
at the individual level may influence behaviour, production and health of the
cows. The aim of this PhD project is to investigate how different strategies
for individual feeding of concentrate based on automatically recorded
information about the individual animal affect production and welfare.
The research will be done at a research
farm with many options for automatically recordings and special equipment for
recording of feeding behaviour and feed intake. The Phd project is conducted as
an integrated part of an interdisciplinary research project, and will relate to
both nutrition and behaviour of dairy cows.
Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants must have a relevant Master
Degree in animal science or in veterinary science.
Place of Employment and Place of Work:
The place of employment is Aarhus
University, and the place of work is Research Center Foulum, Blichers Alle 20,
8830 Tjele Denmark
Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are
invited to contact:
Professor, Head of research Unit, Lene
Munksgaard, Dept. of Animal Science Tel. +458715953, e-mail lene.munksgaard@agrsci.dk or Senior Scientist, Martin Riis Weisbjerg, Dept. of
Animal Science, Tel.+4587158046, e-mail martin.weisbjerg@agrsci.dk
Application procedures:
Before you apply:
Information and attachments:
Please be aware that you must have all
relevant appendices, attachments, addresses for referees, etc. ready when you
apply, as the entire application must be uploaded to the system in one go.
Documentation of language skills:
If English is a secondary language it is
required that your English qualifications are documented. The English language
requirement at Graduates School of Science and Technology is comparable to an
“English B level” in the Danish upper secondary school (“gymnasium”).
English language qualifications comparable
to an “English B level” is documented by one of the following tests:
·
TOEFL test, minimum score: 560 (paper-based test) or 83
(internet-based test)
·
IELTS (academic)
test, minimum average
score: 6.5 points
·
Cambridge ESOL Examinations:
When to take the test and how to upload the
documentation:
The test result must not be more than two
years old at the time of application.
The English language test should be taken
before applying for admission and uploaded under “language skills
documentation” in the online application form.
It is possible to apply for admission
before you have taken the test. In this case documentation stating that you
have signed up for a test (please state expected submission date) must be
uploaded. If the test result is not part of the original application the test
result is to be sent to sphd@psys.au.dkno later than one month after the application deadline.
The following applicants are exempted from
documenting their English qualifications/taking a test:
·
Applicants from
Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, or one
of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden).
·
Applicants with a
Bachelor’s or Master’s programme completed in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, United Kingdom, or United States.
·
Applicants able to
document that English was the language of instruction during their Bachelor’s
and/or Master’s programme. This must be documented by uploading an official
document from the institution stating this under “language skills
documentation”.
The programme committee may request further
information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
How to apply:
1) Find the application form:
Choose May 2014 Call with deadline 1 May
2014 at 11.59 PM MET.
You will be directed to the call, and must
choose the programme 'Animal Science'
2) Fill in the following information:
·
Personal information
·
Academic background
·
Admission
·
Financing (if any)
·
Study: In the
dropdown menu you must choose the project: "Strategies for individual
feeding of concentrate to dairy cows – effects on production, health and
welfare"
·
Source (how you found
out about the call)
3) Application attachments:
Please be aware that you cannot submit the
application if one or several of these documents have not been uploaded.
As a minimum you must upload the following
application material (pdf-files only, max. 20 MB, no zip):
·
Reference letter (as
a minimum 1 must be uploaded)
·
Curriculum vitae
·
Motivation (max. 1
page)
·
One merged file with
scanned copies of diploma(s) and transcript(s) of records for all university degrees.
Please include the original documents as well as a certified English
translation, if the original is not in Scandinavian or English. Please enter
your unweighted grade average calculated according to the national grading
scale for BSc and MSc separately.
·
Project description
(½-4 pages). For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. When
- as here - you apply for a specific project, please simply copy the project
description above, and upload it as a PDF in the application. If you wish to,
you can indicate an URL where further information can be found. Please note
that we reserve the right to remove scientific papers, large reports, theses
and the like.
·
Documentation of
language skills if required.
Please note:
The programme committee may request further
information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
Please note that the project will only be
initiated if final funding (from GSST/the faculty) is secured.