Graduate Research Assistantship - Animal behavior and welfare
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University
Newcastle, UK
Interested in improving the end-of-life experiences of laboratory birds? Thousands of birds are used for biomedical purposes each year. The aim of this PhD is to systematically evaluate the welfare implications of different methods of killing them when the scientific work is completed. The PhD student will collect and integrate behavioural, physiological, and pathological data to assess how each method impacts on welfare. Humane methods of killing laboratory animals are expected by society and are essential for maintaining public trust.
The student will need to apply for a Personal Home Office Licence (PIL) in their first year and will be working directly with laboratory birds (e.g. chickens), R programming, telemetry implantation and analysing spontaneous animal behaviour and physiological outcomes.
The successful candidate will be registered at Newcastle University, as part of its Animal Science Group and collaborate with the Comparative Biology Centre. Students are strongly encouraged to also take training and gain knowledge in a range of transferrable skills, e.g. outreach activities with schools, training in communication, and experimental design and analysis.
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