Supervisors: Professor Loreta Medina and Dr Ester Desfilis
Location: Institut de Recerca Biomedica de Lleida (ES) with PhD registration at Universitat de Lleida (ES)
Secondment locations: Newcastle University (UK) 4 months; Hendrix Genetics (NL) 2 months

Description: Stress is essential for survival, but too much stress is harmful for both humans and animals. Chronic stress increases disease susceptibility in farm animals, and has a negative impact on their growth and reproduction, as well as on the quality of food products such as chicken eggs and meat. In mammals, stress responses are regulated by forebrain networks, which involve the amygdala as a central structure. Our group recently identified different subdivisions and neuron populations of the amygdala in chickens. However, the implication of this avian structure in stress is unknown. As part of a European Network that is investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this proposed PhD project will investigate how the amygdala regulates the stress response in chickens. This is a project ideal for a comparative neuroscientist and will include studies of the connectivity and activation of distinct amygdala neurons following different stressful situations. This work will also link to other work from our laboratory on the development, molecular profile and role of different neurons of the amygdala in the control of emotional responses, social cognition and behavior. We offer a unique opportunity to join a highly stimulating, interdisciplinary and translational European network, where the ESR will learn state-of-the art techniques and innovative research approaches, and gain invaluable professional experience with a world leading company in poultry.

Person Specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree plus Master degree (together 300 ECTS or more) in a biological science, including animal science, zoology, physiology, psychology, biomedicine …
• Good written and oral English communication skills.
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results.
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• A relevant Masters degree (e.g. Neuroscience)
• Knowledge of Spanish (or Catalan) or motivation to learn it
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with brain dissection and immunohistochemistry
• Experience with animal behaviour
• Experience with microscopy
• Knowledge of avian neuroanatomy
• Enthusiastic about research and ability to acquire new skills.
• Interest in applications of science.
• Interest in animal welfare and poultry

Supervisors: Dr. Tom Smulders and Dr. Tim Boswell
Location: Newcastle University (UK)
Secondment locations: Institut de Recerca Biomedica de Lleida (ES) 4 months; Hendrix Genetics (NL) 2 months

Description: The stress response is a deeply conserved trait of vertebrate physiology, and is essentially the same from fishes to mammals. However, the forebrains in different vertebrate lineages are very different. In mammals, we know that forebrain areas such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala play an important role in regulating the stress response, but we know very little about this in birds. This proposed PhD project will investigate how the avian hippocampus and amygdala coordinate the stress response in chickens. This is a project ideal for a comparative neuroscientist and will include: neuronal activity mapping using immediate early genes, tract tracing, and intervention experiments to understand the role of the avian hippocampus in regulating the stress response. This work will also link to other work from our laboratory showing that chronic stress reduces adult neurogenesis in the chicken hippocampus. 

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree in a biological science, including animal science, zoology, physiology, psychology and related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English (IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent)
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• A relevant Masters degree
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with immunohistochemistry
• Experience with animal behaviour
• Experience with microscopy
• Knowledge of avian neuroanatomy
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

Supervisor: Dr. Bram Visser and Professor Bas Rodenburg
Location: Hendrix Genetics (NL) with PhD registration at Utrecht University (NL), collaboration with Wageningen University (NL)
Secondment locations: University of St-Andrews (UK) 4 months

Description: It is known that genetic differences exist in stress sensitivity and adaptive capacity, for instance between white and brown hybrids. White hybrids are for instance more flighty and fearful than brown hybrids. Furthermore, also environmental factors can play an important role in determining a flock’s stress sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Here, the parental environment can play a role, but also incubation conditions, the rearing environment, and finally the laying environment. A lot of data is gathered in each of these phases on technical performance, health and welfare, but this data is rarely combined to see whether it can be used to predict stress sensitivity and adaptive capacity of laying hen flocks. The aim of this project is to identify factors in the genetic and rearing background of laying hens that predict stress sensitivity. The starting point will be pattern detection in flock data that is routinely gathered by the breeding company during the different phases of life. Follow-up studies may include more focused data collection or experiments with the aim to develop flock level predictors of adaptive capacity. This project is well-suited for a data scientist or an animal or veterinary scientist or biologist, interested in data analysis applied to animal breeding.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Master’s degree in data science, animal science, veterinary science, biology or related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Experience with data analysis, quantitative genetics, big data and/or data science
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with animal behaviour
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the breeding or egg industry

 

Supervisor: Dr. V. Anne Smith
Location:University of St-Andrews (UK)
Secondment locations: Linköping University (SE) 4 months; Hendrix Genetics (NL) 2 months

Description: How do genetics and early life experience shape behaviour? What traces of this can we see in an animal’s genes, gene expression and epigenetics? In this studentship you will address these questions focused on stress response in chickens. You will join a European Network that is investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, and will work with data collected by Network members on genetics of ancestral jungle fowl and domestic chickens, epigenetics, and brain transcriptomes. You will apply bioinformatics analysis and cutting-edge network- and pathway-based inference and machine learning techniques (e.g., Bayesian networks) to reveal gene networks related to stress responsivity. This project is ideal for an individual interested in learning how computational genomics and bioinformatics can be applied in neuroscience and behaviour, with opportunity for further development of machine learning/network analyses. You will be employed by and registered for a PhD at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, placed within a computational biology group advancing network-based analyses for biological and social systems. To apply, you should hold a good undergraduate or Masters degree either in a relevant biological or computational discipline with demonstrated experience and/or interest in the other subject area, or in an interdisciplinary/joint degree programme combining biological and computational sciences. Above all, you should be enthusiastic to learn new interdisciplinary techniques and undertake exciting research at the interface of computation, genetics, and neuroscience.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree in a biological or computational science, including related disciplines (e.g., biology: animal science, neuroscience, physiology, psychology, zoology; computation: data science, engineering, physics, mathematics, statistics)
• Fluent written and spoken English (for more details see here)
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Basic capability in at least one programming or scripting language (e.g., R, python, Java, C++)
• Experience in design of experiments, analysis, or projects appropriate to subject background, and in presenting results
• Basic knowledge of genetics
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• An interdisciplinary or joint Bachelor’s degree combining biological and computational subjects
• A relevant Masters degree
• Advanced skills in one or more programming/scripting languages
• Experience with bioinformatics databases
• Experience with machine learning
• Experience with high-throughput genetic data
• Knowledge of animal behaviour
• Knowledge of neuroscience, particularly avian
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare and poultry

 

Supervisors: Professor Loreta Medina, Dr Ester Desfilis and Dr. Antonio Abellán
Location: Universitat de Lleida (ES)
Secondment locations: University of St-Andrews (UK) 4 months; Hendrix Genetics (NL) 2 months

Description: Stress is essential for survival, but too much stress is harmful for both humans and animals. Chronic stress increases disease susceptibility in farm animals, and has a negative impact on their growth and reproduction, as well as on the quality of food products such as chicken eggs and meat. In mammals, stress responses are regulated by forebrain networks, which involve the amygdala as a central structure. Our group recently identified different subdivisions and neuron populations of the amygdala in chickens. However, the implication of this avian structure in stress is unknown. As part of a European Network that is investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this proposed PhD project will investigate how the amygdala regulates the stress response in chickens. This is a project ideal for a comparative neuroscientist and will include study of gene expression and transcriptome analysis in the avian amygdala of chickens with different resilience to stress or raised under different environmental conditions. This work will also link to other work from our laboratory on the development, molecular profile and role of different neurons of the amygdala in the control of emotional responses, social cognition and behavior. We offer a unique opportunity to join a highly stimulating, interdisciplinary and translational European network, where the ESR will learn state-of-the art techniques and innovative research approaches, and gain invaluable professional experience with a world leading company in poultry.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree plus Master degree (together 300 ECTS or more) in a biological science, including animal science, zoology, physiology, psychology, biomedicine
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• A relevant Masters degree (e.g. Neuroscience)
• Knowledge of Spanish (or Catalan) or motivation to learn it
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with brain dissection and immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridization
• Experience with bioinformatics
• Experience with microscopy
• Knowledge of avian neuroanatomy
• Enthusiastic about research and ability to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare and poultry

 

Supervisor: Professor Bas Rodenburg
Location: Utrecht University (NL)
Secondment locations: Open University of Israel (IL) 4 months; Noldus Information Technology (NL) 2 months

Description: Together with genetic background, incubation conditions and early-life environment have major effects on stress responsivity and adaptive capacity of laying hens. For instance, application of  a light-dark cycle during incubation, which mimics hen’s natural incubation behaviour, have been shown to influence both stress sensitivity and feather pecking in poultry. Furthermore, environmental enrichment during early life is expected to support hens’ adaptive capacity in later life and is essential for normal behaviour development. These aspects may have different effects on white and brown egg laying strains. This proposed PhD project will unravel the role of genetics and early-life environment in stress responsivity and adaptive capacity in laying hens. This project is suitable for an animal scientist, biologist or veterinarian with an interest in animal behaviour and animal welfare and experience in behavioural research. Experiments will be a combination of smaller and more focused incubation experiments and larger rearing experiments, in collaboration with the ILVO in Belgium.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Master’s degree in a biological science, including animal science, biology, veterinary medicine and related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of animal behaviour and animal welfare
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with animal behaviour
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisors: Professor Mark Cunningham and Dr Tom Smulders
Location: Trinity College Dublin (IE)
Secondment locations: Utrecht University (NL) 4 months; Vencomatic Group (NL) 2 months

Description: Early life experience can have profound effects on how the brain works later in life. In addition to direct effects on the regulation of stress hormones, we have recently found that different early-life experiences in rodents (e.g. being cross-fostered or being reared by one’s own mother) changes the micro-circuitry in the brain that generates electrical rhythms in the brain.  We have recently also described the generation of these rhythms in the chicken hippocampus. In this project, we will further compare the micro-circuits involved in this generation between birds and mammals and investigate whether the sensitivity of micro-circuits to early-life experiences apply to birds as well. Precocial birds, like chickens, are very independent from the moment of hatching. Nevertheless, they imprint to a mother hen, and rely on her for protection and guidance for foraging. In commercial conditions, however, no mother hen (or other imprinting stimulus) is available to the newly-hatched chicks. We will compare the micro-circuitry in the hippocampus and amygdala of adolescent chickens incubated and hatched with a hen mother to those that were reared under different commercial conditions: incubated in the dark or with a light-dark cycle, and hatched in the dark or with a natural light cycle. This work will involve recording field potentials from brain slices that are kept alive in vitro for a day and that are induced to generate different electrical rhythms. Further electrophysiological and neuroanatomical investigations may also be carried out on the same tissues.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree in a biological science, including neuroscience, animal science, zoology, physiology, psychology and related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• A relevant Master’s degree
• Experience working with animals
• Experience with in-vitro electrophysiology
• Experience with immunohistochemistry
• Experience with Matlab or other signal processing tools
• Knowledge of avian neuroanatomy
• Knowledge of neuropharmacology
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisor: Professor Frank Tuyttens
Location: Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (BE) with PhD registration at the Ghent University (BE)
Secondment locations: Open University of Israel (IL) 4 months; Lakes Free Range Egg Co. (UK) 2 months

Description: Many consumers pay a premium prize for free-range eggs mainly because they associate such production systems with better animal welfare. A properly designed free range area provides hens with ample space, stimuli and possibilities to express highly motivated behaviours (e.g. foraging and dustbathing). Nonetheless these animal welfare benefits may not be fully realised on commercial farms because the hens do not use the free range optimally. The reasons are not fully understood but seem to relate to inadequate designs of the free-range, inappropriate early-life conditions and individual hen-differences. In this study, innovative hen tracking technology will allow these factors to be unravelled. The objectives of the PhD project are to 1) investigate the effect early-life conditions that better mimic incubation, hatching and rearing by natural mothers on range use and welfare; and 2) understand causes and consequences of individual differences in ranging behaviour. A 2x2 factorial experiment will be conducted with half the birds incubated in darkness (standard practice), and the other half in 12:12 light cycle. Of these two treatments, half the pullets will be reared with access to a dark brooder (a shelter that mimics the dark warmth of a mother hen’s wings) and the other half without. At the end of the rearing period, stress resilience, fear and other welfare indicators will be compared between treatments. The birds will then be transferred to an experimental field and housed in mobile poultry houses with access to a range with two types of vegetation cover. During the egg-laying period, the birds will be individually tracked to quantify their range use, using an ultra-wideband tracking system already in use at ILVO. These same birds will also be scored on productivity, behaviour, welfare, fear, and stress resilience. Two predictions will be tested: (1) that light incubation and dark brooders improve welfare, stress-resilience, productivity and range-use of hens, and (2) that hens that range more are less fearful and stress-resilient and have better welfare. 

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Master’s degree (or a degree of minimum four years of study considered equivalent by Ghent University) in a biological science, including animal science, biology, zoology, bio-engineering, veterinary medicine and related disciplines
• Comply with the general terms and regulations for PhD positions at the ILVO (https://www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be/language/en-US/EN/Work-at-ILVO/General-terms-and-regulations.aspx#.XJ4TV5hKhaQ)
• Comply with the general terms and regulations for PhD positions at the Ghent University (https://www.ugent.be/prospect/en/administration/application/requirement/phd.htm#DoctoralDegree(i.e.Doctorate,Ph.D)
• Fluent written and spoken English:
  • English at level B2 is required
  • The supervisor can also confirm that you have the required level of English
• Certificate to conduct animal experiments (FELASA C) or obtaining such a certificate within the first year of the PhD (courses will be organized)
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Evidence of numeracy skills (familiar with Excel, for example)
• Experience in designing and conducting scientific experiments, analyzing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of animal behaviour and animal welfare
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Competence in basic statistics
• Willing to learn more complex statistics
• Technical and IT skills are an asset
• Experience working with animals, ideally birds
• Experience with animal behaviour research
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Willing to learn how to handle large and complex data sets
• Ability to rapidly acquire new skills
• Interest in animal welfare/behaviour
• Interest in the egg industry
• No known allergies to poultry

 

Supervisor: Dr. Mike Toscano
Location: University of Bern (CH)
Secondment locations: Newcastle University (UK) 4 months; Vencomatic Group (NL) 2 months

Description: Understanding how animals respond to stressors is an essential aspect of animal welfare science and the goal of creating positive environments for animals. An important, yet poorly understood aspect of variations in how animals respond to stressors, are the role of early life experiences when the brains and stress-sensitive pathways are still developing.  As part of a Horizon 2020  Marie Curie - European Training Network investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this PhD project will investigate how transportation at 1 day of age and the associated stressors (e.g. handling, temperature change, food withdrawal) affects long term development, stress responsivity, an neuronal markers of chronic stress. The project, based at the University of Bern in Zollikofen, Switzerland, is intended to provide an improved fundamental understanding of how the stress response develops as well as the applied benefits of hatching laying hens on farm. The project is ideal for a candidate with an MSc level of training in physiology, ethology, psychology, veterinary medicine, animal science, or neuroscience. The work will include a combination of on-farm experiments focusing on behavioral study within our specialized research facilities as well as laboratory training in neuroanatomical method and a non-academic placement in the world’s largest provider of non-cage poultry housing. The majority of your study will be based within the Center for Proper Housing of Poultry and Rabbits. You should have relevant behavioural, stress physiological or neuroanatomical research experience. Above all, you should be enthusiastic about developing a career related to research and development in a relevant field.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• A Masters level degree in a biological science, including ethology, animal science, veterinary medicine, neuroscience, zoology, physiology, psychology or related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Basic knowledge of animal behavior
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Fluency in speaking/writing German
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, and presenting results
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience in methods related to stress physiology
• Experience with animal behavior
• Experience of techniques used in neuroscience
• Knowledge of avian behavior and neuroanatomy
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in the applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisor: Dr. Mike Toscano
Location: University of Bern (CH)
Secondment locations: Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO) 4 months; Vencomatic Group (NL) 2 months

Description: Understanding how animals adapt to their surroundings is an essential aspect of animal welfare science and the goal of creating positive environments for animals. The early stages of an animal’s life are known to influence many aspects of development both in the long and short term, including cognitive and physical responses.  As part of a Horizon 2020 Marie Curie - European Training Network investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this PhD project will investigate how exposing specific stimuli to chicks can encourage performance of key behaviours and lead to improved musculo-skeletal health and cognitive abilities, as well as reduced incidence of bone fractures during adulthood.  The project, based at the University of Bern in Zollikofen, Switzerland, is intended to provide an improved fundamental understanding of how birds adapt to their environment as well as the applied benefits of rearing interventions on farm. The work will include a combination of on-farm experiments focusing on behavioral study within our specialized research facilities as well as a research exchange to explore assessments of cognitive development and a non-academic placement in the world’s largest provider of non-cage poultry housing. The majority of your experimental work will be based within the Center for Proper Housing of Poultry and Rabbits. You should have relevant behavioural, stress physiological or psychological research experience. Above all, you should be enthusiastic about developing a career related to research and development in a relevant field.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• A Masters level degree in a biological science, including ethology, animal science, veterinary medicine, neuroscience, zoology, physiology, psychology or related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Basic knowledge of animal behavior
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Fluency in speaking/writing German
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, and presenting results
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with animal behavior
• Experience of techniques used behavioural testing including animal training
• Knowledge of avian behavior
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in the applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisors: Dr Janicke Nordgreen and Professor Andrew Janczak
Location: Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
Secondment locations: Newcastle University (UK) 4 months; Lakes Free Range Egg Co. (UK) 2 months

Description: The stress response is a conserved trait of vertebrate physiology and is similar from fish to mammals. Animals modify their stress response within their defined genetic capacity based on information gained from a variety of sources. Animals are especially sensitive to such information during early development, thereby configuring the brain to respond in a particular way to stressors later in life. As part of a European Network that is investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this proposed PhD project will investigate how the degree of complexity of the early rearing environments influence stress responsiveness and cognition and relate this to the level of neurogenesis at Newcastle University. This project is ideal for a candidate with an MSc level of training in physiology, ethology, psychology, veterinary medicine, animal science, or neuroscience. The work will include intervention experiments in order to understand the effects of the early environment, behavioural testing, physiological sample collection, sample preparation and analysis. You should have relevant behavioural, stress physiological or neuroanatomical research experience. Above all, you should be enthusiastic about developing a career related to research and development in a relevant field.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• A Masters level degree in a biological science, including ethology, animal science, veterinary medicine, neuroscience, zoology, physiology, psychology or related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Basic knowledge of animal behavior
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, and presenting results
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience in methods related to stress physiology
• Experience with animal behavior
• Experience of techniques used in neuroscience
• Knowledge of avian behavior and neuroanatomy
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in the applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

Supervisor: Dr. Mike Toscano
Location: University of Bern (CH)
Secondment locations: Open University of Israel (IL) 4 months; Hendrix Genetics (NL) 2 months

Description: Understanding how animals respond to environmental stressors is an essential aspect of animal welfare science and the goal of creating positive environments for animals. These interactions can be especially challenging to investigate in production environments like those of modern, non-cage laying hen systems where tens of thousands of animals, nearly identical in appearance, will be housed together. Our research group has been using a combination of the latest technology allowing tracking of animals alongside novel data visualization and statistical analyses to allow a focus on individual behaviour within large systems (see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29962-x). This PhD project will investigate how behavioural responses at both the group- and individual-level are affected by environmental challenges and the relationship with neurobiology.  The project, based at the University of Bern in Zollikofen, Switzerland, is intended to provide an improved fundamental understanding of how individual birds respond to stressors as well as how this understanding can benefit modern breeding strategies. The work will include a combination of on-farm experiments focusing on behavioral study within our specialized research facilities using state of the art tracking equipment. The student will also participate in a research exchange to explore neurogenesis techniques and a non-academic placement with a leading provider of laying hen genetics. You should have relevant behavioural, stress physiological or psychological research experience. Above all, you should be enthusiastic about developing a career related to research and development in a relevant field.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• A Masters level degree in a biological science, including ethology, animal science, veterinary medicine, neuroscience, zoology, physiology, psychology or related disciplines
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Basic knowledge of animal behavior
• Proactive, problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Fluency in speaking/writing German
• Experience in designing experiments, analysing data, and presenting results
• Experience working with animals, ideally chickens
• Experience with animal behavior
• Experience of techniques used in neuroscience
• Knowledge of avian behavior
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in the applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisor: Professor Anat Barnea
Location: Open University of Israel (IL) with PhD registration at Tel Aviv University (IL)
Secondment locations: University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT) 1 month; University of Bern (CH) 1.5 months; Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (BE) 1.5 months; Lakes Free Range Egg Co. (UK) 2 months

Description: Neuronal plasticity (i.e. neurogenesis and new neuronal recruitment) in the adult brain occurs in all vertebrates, and in the avian brain these phenomena are especially robust. Both internal (e.g. hormones, circadian cycle) and external (e.g. social and physical environments) factors affect these processes. Hence, neuronal plasticity might be used as a measure for animal welfare. In the egg industry, housing conditions in which birds are raised and kept have major effects on stress and stress responsivity. Therefore, as part of a European Network that is investigating the factors that can make hens more or less resilient to stress, this proposed project will investigate how housing conditions and individual differences in space use affect neuronal plasticity in their brain, especially in the hippocampus, which is known to regulate stress response. This is an ideal project to study the interplay between the environment and the brain, a fascinating topic which attracts much attention during last few decades. You will acquire skills in neuroanatomy, histology, immunohistochemistry, hormonal analysis, and will use a cutting edge computerized system to map brain tissue in order to record neurogenesis and track new neurons in various brain regions. You should be enthusiastic to learn new techniques and work well in a team in a scientific setup.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Masters degree in a biological science (animal science, zoology, physiology, psychology and related disciplines)
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Experience in designing experiments, analyzing data, presenting results
• Basic knowledge of neuroscience
• Problem-solving attitude
• Ability to work well as part of a team

Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Experience working with animals
• Experience with immunohistochemistry
• Experience with animal behavior
• Experience with microscopy
• Knowledge of avian neuroanatomy
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in applications of science
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry

 

Supervisor: Dr. Victoria Sandilands
Location: Scotland’s Rural College (UK) with PhD registration at the University of Edinburgh (UK)
Secondment locations: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (DE) 4 months; Vencomatic Group (NL) 2 months

Description: Everyone knows the benefit of a good night's sleep, and how unpleasant sleep loss can feel. Animal sleep is not always well understood, but has been shown to be affected by events such as maternal deprivation and feed restriction. The aim is to investigate if sleep quality and quantity could be a novel welfare indicator in laying hens, because we know that sleep in other animals is altered by stress and that laying hens may be subjected to stressful events in their lifetime, for example brief hunger, pain, or longer-term stress through standard husbandry practices. The objectives of the PhD project are to understand what normal and abnormal sleep look like in laying hens, and to evaluate if sleep could be a useful welfare tool by examining how it is altered by distinct acute stressors and by more subtle, long-term stressors (i.e. housing type).  This will be achieved by a) measuring sleep duration and quality (as assessed by different sleep phases) in 12 hens during uninterrupted and disrupted nights' sleep. Sleep measures will come from observations of sleep behaviour (e.g. bird posture, eye(s) closed, head tucked under wing) alongside brain activity data measured by electroencephalography (EEG), which provide the most reliable measures of sleep.    This will be followed by b) subjecting those hens to short-term stressors that they may experience in their lifetime, such as hunger, heat, and footpad pain. Finally, c) hens will be housed in small groups similar to commercial housing practices (i.e. on litter floors and in furnished cages) for a few months and their sleep behaviour monitored weekly, to assess if housing conditions (which are potentially stressful) alter sleep quality. The student will learn about EEG implantation and how to interpret the results at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen (DE).  The student will also potentially conduct field trials of sleep quality indicators in a commercial setting.

Person specification

Essential (every candidate should fulfil these criteria):

• Bachelor’s degree in a biological science
• Evidence of English language ability:
  • an undergraduate or Masters degree, that was taught and assessed in English in a majority English-speaking country as defined by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI list of majority English speaking countries)
  • IELTS Academic: total 6.5 (at least 6.0 in each module)
  • TOEFL-iBT: total 92 (at least 20 in each module)
  • PTE(A): total 61 (at least 56 in each of the "Communicative Skills" sections; the "Enabling Skills" sections are not considered)
  • CAE and CPE: total 176 (at least 169 in each module)
  • Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components
  • Degrees taught and assessed in English should be no more than three years old in September 2019. Language tests must be no more than two years old in September 2019
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Good written and oral English communication skills
• Evidence of numeracy skills (familiar with Excel, for example)
• Experience in designing experiments, analyzing data, presenting results

 Desirable (we do not expect a candidate to fulfil all these criteria):

• Masters degree in a biological science (animal science, zoology, physiology, animal behavior, animal welfare)
• Competence in basic statistics
• Willing to learn more complex statistics
• Experience working with animals, especially birds
• Experience with animal behavior research
• Knowledge of egg industry
• Willing to be trained in and perform brain implantation surgery
• Willing to learn how to handle large and complex data sets
• Ability rapidly to acquire new skills
• Interest in animal welfare
• Interest in the egg industry
• No known allergies to poultry