Animal Behaviour and Welfare Team

R/SLS/392/09

AYR
£27,110 – £31,895

With a range of research, consultancy and education services, the Scottish Agricultural College is not here just to pass on vital skills today, but also to bring innovation to Scotland’s land based industries for tomorrow.

SAC is seeking a postdoctoral research scientist to join the Animal Behaviour and Welfare team.  The scientist will be responsible for a project to apply behavioural techniques to measure the negative subjective state (hunger) associated with commercial levels of feed restriction in broiler breeder chickens.  This work forms part of a larger collaborative project, funded by Defra and involving SAC and the Universities of Newcastle and Edinburgh (Roslin Institute).

Broiler breeders (the parents of chickens used to produce meat) are routinely feed-restricted to prevent overweight and associated health and reproductive problems. However, behavioural signs of hunger result, leading to an animal welfare dilemma. The successful applicant will apply techniques in animal learning/ decision making to investigate the issue of feed-restriction. The choices that feed-restricted chickens make between different environments that they have learned to associate with different feeding levels (sometimes in combination with other potentially negative environmental variables), will be used to identify how these birds perceive their hunger in relation to other relevant stressors.

A PhD or relevant post-graduate experience in a relevant field such as animal behaviour, psychology, animal welfare, animal science or animal nutrition is required. The applicant should be enthusiastic and highly self-motivated to work independently during extended periods of experimental work, but also able to communicate and interact well with other members of a larger project team, funders and other scientists.  A current UK driving licence is essential since travel between SAC sites at Auchincruive and Edinburgh will be required.

The post will be based at SAC’s Avian Science Research Centre near Ayr.  The appointment will be available until 31st September 2012 in the first instance.

The salary will be in the region of £27,110 – £31,895 per annum.

Apply online at www.sac.ac.uk. If you do not have access to the Internet, you may request an application pack by emailing HumanResources [at] sac.co [.] uk or contact Human Resources on 0131 535 4343.  Please note that CV’s will not be accepted without a completed application form.

Closing date: 29th May 2009.

Please quote: R/SLS/392/09

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