University
of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
The
Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna,
is seeking a PhD student to join a project funded by the Messerli Foundation
(Switzerland). With this
grant the institute is going to strengthen interdisciplinary research in three
areas, comparative cognition, comparative medicine and animal ethics. To this
end it will set up and commission a pig lab at the highest possible welfare
standards at the Haidlhof Research Station, 30 km south of Vienna, Austria, in spring
2014. Only observational, non-invasive studies will be carried out. For ethical
and scientific reasons the pigs will be kept in a cutting-edge free-range
housing system.
The
PhD project aims to
empirically investigate over a three year period certain socio-cognitive abilities of
domestic pigs. The student will carry out tests on social intelligence,
emotional contagion, imitation, pro-social behaviour, cooperation and the
animals’ sense of community, accompanied by standard tests of learning and
memory. The student will be supervised by Prof. Ludwig Huber, head
of the Unit of Comparative Cognition, who has a long-standing interest in the
cognitive abilities of a wide range of animals (from fish, reptiles to birds
and mammals), as well as in questions of domestication (especially in the
wolf-dog system) and human-animal interactions. He has co-founded the Haidlhof
Research Station, together with Prof. Tecumseh Fitch and Prof. Dr. Thomas
Bugnyar from the Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna. At this
reserach station the successful applicant will be exposed to a vivid,
international, collaborative scientific environment, studying cognition and
communication in keas, ravens, other corvids, and conducting bioacoustic
studies in a wide range of birds and mammals.
As
the findings will likely generate questions about the welfare and the moral
status of pigs and its relevance for the society, the work will be
co-supervised by the Unit of Ethics and Human-Animal Studies (Prof. Herwig
Grimm, Dr. Judith Benz-Schwarzburg). Finally, the Unit of Comparative Medicine
(Prof. Erika Jensen-Jarolim) will accompany the cognition studies aiming at
defining new stress biomarkers from saliva. The cooperation between the three
teams highly promotes the interdisciplinary approach of the Messerli Research
Institute. The researchers involved in the pig project will be able to conduct
cutting-edge research on pig cognition, health and welfare, but they will also
deduce, understand and discuss ethical aspects and implications of the project.
Starting
date: The position is available from March 2014 (begin of summer
term).
Qualification:
Applicants have
- at the point of enrollment a Master's degree (or
equivalent) in Veterinary sciences, Agricutltural sciences (with a focus
on farm animals) or Biology, preferably with a strong interest in animal
behaviour,
- experience with pigs, ideally studied in their thesis
- excellent communication and writing skills in English
- basic knowledge of German
- other helpful competences include statistical
proficiency and possession of a driving licence
Conditions
of employment
The
university offers a salary according to level B1 75% (approx. 1900 Euros gross
per month). The position requires residence near the Haidlhof research station
(30 km south of Vienna, near Bad Vöslau, Lower Austria) and must result in a
PhD thesis within the 3-year contract period. A PhD training program is part of
the agreement and the successful candidate will be enrolled in the University
of Veterinary Medicine's PhD program. Objective of the temporary 3 years
position is a number (3 or more) of research articles in peer-reviewed
scientific journals, together comprising the PhD thesis leading to the granting
of the PhD degree at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. After the
first year will be an evaluation for feasibility of successful completion of
the PhD thesis within the next 2 years.
For
further information regarding the position and scientific content of the
project please contact the Project Leader, Prof. Ludwig Huber (email: ludwig.huber@vetmeduni.ac.at).
Application:
Written applications in English should include a C.V., summary of educational
and work experience, statement describing your scientific interests, copies of any published or in-press
papers, and contact information for two references. Applications
can be mailed to: Mag.
Franziska Luckabauer, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary
Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria.
Applications
by e-mail only will NOT be considered.
Application
deadline: 12 January 2014.
The Messerli
Research Institute (www.vetmeduni.ac.at/Messerli)
has been recently founded with support of the University of Veterinary Medicine
Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Vienna and the
Messerli Foundation (Switzerland) for the scientific study of human-animal
interactions, with an integrative and highly interdisciplinary approach of
comparative cognition and behaviour, comparative medicine, and animal ethics.
The University of Veterinary
Medicine Vienna promotes the employment of women in fields of work in which
they are underrepresented and therefore encourages qualified women to
apply to this opening. Disabled people will be preferentially treated if
qualified.