EastBio -Food Motivation in Horses; From Behaviour to Genetics

Funding

This 4-year PhD project is part of a competition funded by EastBio BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership. This opportunity is open to UK and International students and provides funding to cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs.

The proportion of international students appointed through the EastBio DTP is capped at 30% by UKRI BBSRC. Please check your eligibility for the UKRI funding via the UKRI Training Grant Terms and Conditions (especially Annex B International Eligibility Criteria for UKRI-funded studentships). Please contact [Email Address Removed] if you are unsure of your fee status.

The Project

Obesity affects around 30-40% of horses in the UK and was recently identified as one of the most important welfare challenges facing the equine industry. Whilst we assume that equine obesity is due to an imbalance of energy intake and expenditure our understanding of the underlying mechanisms is very poor. In other species obesity is now largely considered a disease of the brain and appetite signalling. People or dogs most at risk of obesity have an increased appetite and are less able to control their intake; they are highly food motivated compared with their lean counterparts.

The recognition of these distinct phenotypes has led to ground-breaking work to uncover the genetics of human and canine obesity. In contrast, little is known about food motivation in horses but there are definite breed differences in susceptibility to obesity. Owners frequently report horses more likely to be obese are highly food motivated which makes food restriction for weight loss challenging. We hypothesise that intrinsic differences in food motivation exist between horses which accounts for differences in obesity susceptibility and that current restrictive weight management practices fail to account for these differences and may consequently negatively impact a horse’s welfare.

Our project is in three parts, the first is the development of methods to accurately quantify food motivation in horses as measured by behavioural testing, analysis of grazing behaviour and owner questionnaires. From this we will develop a simplified composite testing regime which can be rolled out to a larger number of obese-prone and non-obese prone breeds to test our hypothesis that food motivation is correlated with obesity risk. In the final part we will start to unpick the genetic basis of intrinsic food motivation.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria are available on the EastBio how to apply webpage.

How to Apply

To apply for an EastBio PhD studentship, please follow the guidance on the EastBio how to apply webpage. EastBio can provide you with support for your application and details are available on the webpage.

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Ruth Morgan - [Email Address Removed]

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:

1) Complete the online EastBio Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a unique number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your EastBio Application Form.

2) Download and fill in the EastBio Application Form. You can only apply for one EastBio PhD project.

3) Download and send the EastBio Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to [Email Address Removed] by 17 January 2025

4) Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to [Email Address Removed] by 17 January 2025

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at [Email Address Removed]