PhD Studentship - Understanding satiety in broiler breeders during rearing and application to commercial diets
This vacancy is: Fixed term
Salary: Stipend £14,057 per annum plus £2500 per year paid by Aviagen
Location: Roslin Institute Building, near Edinburgh
Closing Date: Monday, 18th May 2015
Description:
SRUC, Scotland’s Rural College, delivers comprehensive skills, education and business support for Scotland’s land-based industry founded on world class, sector leading research, education and consultancy. Our 1500 staff are located on 6 campuses and around 40 business units across Scotland and the North of England.
Broiler breeder chickens are the parents of meat chickens (broilers), and their feeding during rearing must be carefully managed to ensure good animal health and welfare and productivity in adulthood. This project will involve development and application of behavioural and physiological measures of satiety and feeding motivation to the design of optimal diets for rearing broiler breeders. Diets which are relevant to the industry and developed or recommended by Aviagen for study will provide the focus. The project work will involve investigating the effects of industry-relevant diets (e.g. high fibre and/or low protein diets) on behavioural and physiological measures of satiety. Also the student will carry out experiments and/or laboratory work to investigate the avian nutrient-gut-brain pathway to explore how different physiological mechanisms (relating to the energy content and volume of food consumed, and body energy reserves) interact to regulate feed intake.
The project will be supervised at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in collaboration with Edinburgh University (Roslin Institute) and Aviagen. The student will be registered with Edinburgh University and based at SRUC, Roslin Institute Building, Easter Bush, Midlothian. The successful candidate will be registered at Edinburgh University. This studentship is funded to pay the tuition fees of UK nationals or European Union nationals who have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start date of this PhD. Applications from individuals who do not meet this criteria will not be considered.
All applicants must have a minimum of an upper second class honours degree or equivalent in biological, veterinary or agricultural science. An MSc in a relevant discipline is desirable. The successful candidate should have a good grounding in animal behaviour and physiology and must be willing to work in farm, office and laboratory environments.
The stipend for this studentship is £14,057 per annum, plus a further £2500 per year paid by Aviagen. The expected start date for this studentship is October 2015.
Online applications for this post can be submitted via our website www.sruc.ac.uk/jobs Candidates who are unable to access the online applications system can request an application pack from audrey.johnstone@sruc.ac.uk Tel 0131 535 4028 quoting reference SRUC/1029904/Death. Please note that CV’s will not be accepted without a completed application form.
To have an informal discussion about this studentship, contact Rick D’Eath (SRUC) on 0131 651 9356 or email rick.death@sruc.ac.uk
The closing date for the return of applications is 5pm on 18th May 2015.
Apply Online
Please note that you will be asked to register before filling in an online application and CVs will not be accepted without a completed application form. Please quote: C/VS/025/15.
Important information
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Job Particulars - PhD Studentship
SRUC is an equal opportunities employer.
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West Mains Road,
Edinburgh
EH9 3JG
Telephone: 0131 535 4420
Fax: 0131 535 4412
E-mail: recruitmentteam@sruc.ac.uk