SRUC and University of Edinburgh - Cattle breeding choices: reconciling productivity, sustainability and food security objectives

Project Summary
Applications are invited for a full-time PhD scholarship with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the University of Edinburgh, commencing October 2018.
The overall aim of this project is to investigate dairy and beef farmers’ past and intended future cattle breeding decisions. The greatest contemporary challenge for cattle producers is arguably to deliver on wide ranging environmental and social objectives such as climate change mitigation and animal welfare whilst remaining profitable. To be viable and sustainable, future livestock production therefore must adapt to changes in environmental factors, markets and policy. Genetics and producer breeding decisions can play an important role in reconciling competing objectives. However, breeding strategies and farmers’ preferences for traits considering short and long term environmental and social objectives are not well understood. This knowledge is a prerequisite for identifying barriers to uptake of existing genetic selection tools currently available to farmers, and ultimately contributes to developing more effective selection tools that help address key challenges that the industry faces.
The PhD research will involve working with a suite of social science methods. It will provide an opportunity to develop valuable skills in designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative surveys; collating and preparing large secondary datasets; and analysing survey and secondary data using qualitative methods as well as econometrics and multivariate statistics. The project will allow the successful candidate to develop social science skills in an interdisciplinary environment, and to apply these skills in research that is of interest to policy makers and the farming industry.
SRUC’s joint submission with the University of Edinburgh to the Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science subpanel of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) ranks top in the UK on research power. The student will therefore work in an intellectually inspiring environment, have access to a wide range of training opportunities, including those provided by the SGSSS Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). In addition there will be ample possibilities for exchange with young and established researchers, for example through involvement in the young scientist network of the GenTORE (GENomic management Tools to Optimize Resilience and Efficiency) project.
Candidate requirements and eligibility

Applicants must have a degree level qualification in a relevant subject (social sciences, economics, agricultural or environmental/ecological/biological sciences). Candidates must also demonstrate an interest in/knowledge of agricultural systems, animal genetics, economics and social science methods/statistics.

The studentship will commence in October 2018 and is available as a ‘1+3’ or as a ‘+3’ opportunity. The +3 route involves a 3-year research degree programme and requires that the candidate has an MSc qualification that meets ESRC training requirements. The ‘1+3’ route incorporates a one-year MSc programme (e.g., MSc Social Research), followed by a 3-year research degree programme.
Supervision
The PhD project will be jointly supervised by Dr Klaus Glenk and Dr Vera Eory of SRUC’s Sustainable Ecosystems team within the Land Economy, Environment and Society Group, and co-supervised by Prof Eileen Wall (Integrative Animal Sciences, SRUC) and Prof Dominic Moran (Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security of the University of Edinburgh). The successful candidate will be registered with the University of Edinburgh’s Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies.