PhD fellowship in piglet nutrition

We are offering a PhD fellowship in monogastric nutrition commencing 1 March 2022 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Our group and research
Research in our group is mainly on nutrition, physiology and production of pigs with main emphasis on piglet survival and growth through various nutritional strategies. We focus on gut maturation, muscle development and growth in both on farm experiments as well as more controlled experiments conducted at UCPH research facilities. 

Project description

The main aim of this PhD project is to combine knowledge on gut metabolism and maturation, and muscle development during early life of piglets, in order to increase survival and growth of piglets within large litters. The work is part of the project Tarm og muskel, Næringstoffer og Tilvækst TNT, funded by the Pig Levy Fund (Svineafgiftsfonden). The project will among other things involve conducting two experiments with piglets, one focusing on optimizing nutrition and survival the first few days of life and the other will focus on gut maturation and muscle growth, testing several feeding strategies against each other in a controlled research environment at UCPH. The study will combine nutritional in vivo experiments with laboratory analyses of muscle fibre development, growth and gut maturation parameters.

Principal supervisor isAssociate Professor, Charlotte Amdi Williams, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Section for Production, Nutrition and Health, email: [email protected] ,  +45 35333086 and co-supervisor will be assistant professor, Johannes Gulmann Madsen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Section for Production, Nutrition and Health, email: [email protected] , +45 22289909

Start:                 1 March 2022

Duration:          3 years as a PhD fellow

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at SUND will be:

• Carrying through an independent research project under supervision.

• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge through publishing peer-reviewed scientific papers.
• Writing 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. animal science. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years). We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database .

Other important criteria are:

• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in monogastric nutrition
• Language skills – fluently Danish and English
• Driver’s license
• Enjoy working in a small team

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Section for Production, Nutrition and Health, 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.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD fellow 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 starts at approximately 27,800 DKK/Roughly 3,700 EUR (October 2021 level) plus pension.

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

General information about PhD studies 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 (max. two pages)

3. 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: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database . 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: 6 December 2021, 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 find information about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants 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 January week 1 and 2.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.