Closing Date: 25th November 2024 (10am CET)
Location: Poznan, Poland
We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated PhD student to join our research team in the project titled: “Biologically active components of rugosa rose (Rose rugosa Thunb.) as potential modulators of methane emission, fatty acids biohydrogenation, and milk quality in dairy cows“.
This project, supported by the National Science Center, Poland, project number: UMO-2023/51/B/NZ9/00792/R and the subsequent recruitment to the Poznań University of Life Sciences Doctoral School
Requirements:
a) PhD candidates should have an MSc in agricultural science (zootechnic), veterinary, life sciences, or related disciplines.
b) High motivation and competence in conducting research in the laboratory, specifically with dairy cows. Practical knowledge of short- and long-term ruminal fluid incubation techniques and working with animals with a rumen fistula.
c) Knowledge of gas chromatographic techniques used in the analysis of volatile fatty acids and long-chain fatty acids in various biological materials (feed, rumen fluid, milk, blood).
d) Fluent in English, confirmed by a certificate.
e) Having a valid driver’s license for Poland
Description of activities:
The research that the candidate will participate in will include working in in vitro and in vivo experiments as follows: (1) a short-term batch-culture experiment testing the effect of total polyphenols and/or unsaturated fatty acids; (2) a short-term in vitro batch-culture experiment testing the effect of selected shares of the TMR; (3) a long-term in vitro study – RUSITEC system evaluating the effect of replacing the TMR components in part by RFPF and RFPS (the optimal variant derived from the experiment) as well as pure/blend BAC, pure/blend UFA, and blend BAC/UFA to determine the mode of action and mechanisms by which BACs will be responsible for observed changes. The in situ (4) rumen in sacco experiment on degradation kinetics and effective degradability of RFPF and RFPS, and (5) in vivo experiments on cannulated dairy cows, where rumen fluid and milk will be examined.
Deadline for offer submission: 25.11.2024, 10.00 a.m. CET, with the proviso that in case of earlier application of candidates who meet the requirements, the competition will be completed before the deadline.
Approximate date of competition results: 02.12.2024, 6 p.m. CET, or as mentioned above.
Documents need to be submitted electronically to: [email protected]
Conditions of employment:
A Ph.D. scholarship for a period of 4 years starting from 1.01.2025. The Ph.D. student scholarship holder will be admitted to the Poznań University of Life Sciences Doctoral School. The scholarship amount will be 3 815.82 net PLN a month for the first two years (until the date of the mid-term evaluation), while after a positive mid-term evaluation it will be 4 880,70 net PLN a month for the next two years.
More details are in the attachment.