Nottingham University - Veterinary School - Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the Beef Sector

Background:

The School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham was the first brand new, purpose-built veterinary school in the UK for over 50 years and it is our intent to make significant leading contributions to both veterinary research and teaching within the context of valid relevance and application to the wider veterinary profession.
Research is central to the activities of the School, both in terms of maintaining ourselves at the forefront of national and international efforts in veterinary medicine but also as an integral part of the training and education for undergraduate and postgraduate students. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework assessment, 97% of work submitted by the Schools of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine and Science was judged to be of international quality, and 37% of work was assessed as world-leading (4-star). Research environment was ranked top of all institutions within our Unit of Assessment (Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science).

Project description:
Effective use of accurate business data is an essential component of managing any business. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are created to predict overall business success. The purpose of this project is to add significant information towards the development of KPIs for the beef sector. This will include evaluation of new KPIs as well as an assessment of currently proposed indices. Measures will be sought for each major type of enterprise, covering a multitude of farming methods and management systems.

The project will involve:

• Coordinating a small group of beef farmers and advisers, and collating historic data from each farm to calculate existing and novel KPIs
• Evaluation of trends over time/between systems and development of best practice guidelines for data collection
• Exploration of which measures best predict overall profitability, using a simulation-based approach known as probabilistic sensitivity analysis, and development of a decision support tool
• Undertaking a survey to explore beef farmer attitudes to record keeping and performance monitoring, identifying any perceived barriers to these activities
• An extensive knowledge exchange element, including presentations at conferences, running on-farm meetings and preparation of press and other articles

The project involves farmer-facing discussion and knowledge exchange work alongside the use of advanced agri-informatics and analytical techniques (including simulation modelling). The studentship will last three years.

Further information and Application
Applicants should have a minimum of a 2.1 undergraduate degree or a minimum of a 2.2 degree and a Masters degree in Agriculture, Animal science, Veterinary Science, Nutrition or similar subjects.

Candidates should apply at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/apply/apply-online.aspx including a CV. Informal enquiries may be addressed to [Email Address Removed]; queries regarding application should be addressed to [Email Address Removed].

Start Date:
1st September 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Closing date:
As soon as suitable candidate identified: early application is strongly encouraged.