Postdoctoral position in applied ethology and welfare
University of Pennsylvania, USA
The Swine Teaching and Research Center located on the New Bolton Center campus is looking to fill a postdoctoral position starting as soon as Sept 1, 2026 if possible, under the direction of Thomas D. Parsons, the Marie A. Moore Endowed Chair in Animal Welfare and Ethics.
Talented, highly motivated individuals are being recruited to join a multidisciplinary research team that addresses the behavior and welfare of sows reared in loose housing, both in large groups during gestation and with alternative farrowing systems. This position involves a combination of on-farm experimental work including preference and motivation testing, data acquisition using advanced sensing technologies such as inertial measurement units and computer vision-based monitoring systems, quantitative data analysis, and working closely within our group and with our collaborators on animal behavior, engineering, and data science. The overarching goal is to generate robust, animal-based data at the interface of animal welfare and precision livestock farming to inform evidence-based improvements in sow housing systems.
This position provides a truly unique opportunity to study sows under a variety of welfare-friendly husbandry scenarios using novel experimental tools. Expertise in applied ethology, experimental design, and statistics is highly desirable.
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