PhD fellowship in Sustainable Feeding Solutions for Greenland Sled Dogs

We are seeking a dedicated PhD student for a 3-year position in a project on sustainable feeding solutions for Greenland sled dogs. The position is available from 15 May 2025, or after agreement.

The PhD project will be conducted in collaboration between the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). In addition, the project will be conducted in close collaboration with the well-established QimmeqHealth project (https://qimmeq.ku.dk/english/).

The project is funded by the Danish Research Council.

Project description:
The Greenland Sled Dog is a unique dog breed of major importance for the identity and culture of the Greenlandic population. The PhD project aims to address the challenges the Greenland sled dogs face due to climate change, shifting feed availability, and economic pressures.

The project will focus on investigating current feeding practices, identifying local feed resources, and determining the nutritional needs of this iconic dog breed. By working closely with local dog owners, feed producers, and industry, the overall aim is to provide practical, culturally aligned feeding guidelines, and develop sustainable feeding solutions that can enhance and support the health and welfare of sled dogs in Greenland.

Principal supervisor:
Associate Professor Caroline Marcussen, Dept. of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, UCPH, [email protected], +4535330953

Start: 15May 2025
Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying out an independent research project under supervision.

• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments [including a stay at another research team].
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

The project offers a unique opportunity to participate in an active research environment and contribute to developing sustainable and nutritionally balanced feed for Greenlandic sled dogs adapted to a contemporary Greenlandic environment.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants to the PhD position must have a master´s degree in Veterinary Science, and either possess a Danish authorization to practice veterinary medicine or be willing to apply for this shortly after commencing the employment. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:

• Good understanding and strong interest in carnivore nutrition
• Experience in handling dogs
• Experience in clinical examination, diagnosis and treatment of dogs
• Interest in working with data in a structured way and statistical analysis
• Good oral and written English skills
• Ability and interest in collaborating across disciplines with project partners
• Willingness to stay in Greenland for extended periods during the project
• Interest in learning the Greenlandic language
• Good scientific and writing skills
• Good communicative skills

Place of employment:
The place of employment is at the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

About us:
The Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences covers strong and internationally recognized research areas in clinical veterinary sciences. Based on these, we want to set a new standard for cross-disciplinary research, education and innovation within animal health and disease and be among the best public workplaces in Denmark. Our research supports teaching in a manner and quality, securing continued national and international benchmarking. The department is responsible for clinical teaching and training of veterinary students at the University and offers and international postgraduate master’s program within Companion Animal Clinical Sciences (www.cacs.ku.dk). The department culture is typical Scandinavian: a flat structure with a tradition for close collaboration where all employees expect openness, mutual respect, and sharing of ideas, resources and competences.

The Section for Diagnostic Imaging, Companion Animal Surgery and Specialties has a strong research profile, primarily within companion animal research. The section holds clinical teaching and service obligations within imaging and companion animal surgery, cardiology, neurology, oncology and clinical nutrition and strong collaborations across fields nationally and internationally.

Clinical Nutrition is part of the section and employs researchers and clinicians specializing in veterinary and comparative nutrition, including one European-boarded diploma holder within the field, residents in training, and PhD students. The group covers teaching and research on animal and carnivore nutrition in health and disease. The Veterinary Clinical Nutrition referral service is internationally accredited and approved by the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition (ECVCN) as a specialist (residency) training site. Veterinary Clinical Nutrition operates a specialized clinical nutrition referral service, seeing both primary and secondary patients needing nutritional management advice. We also provide advice services and continuous professional education seminars for veterinarians in general practice.

Terms of employment:
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

The PhD student position is a fixed-term position, limited to 3 years. The start date is 15 May 2025 or after agreement.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s successful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,700 DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April 2024 level) plus pension.

Questions:
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure:
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant to the position

3. Certified copy of the original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in a language other than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: Sunday 2 March 2025, at 23.59 pm CET
We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline and not to consider applications that do not meet the abovementioned requirements.

The further process:
After the application deadline, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience concerning the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed, each applicant can comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant himself/herself/themselves.

You can find information about the recruitment process at:

https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 13 og 14, 2025.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.

Københavns Universitet giver sine knap 10.000 medarbejdere muligheder for at udnytte deres talent fuldt ud i et ambitiøst, uformelt miljø. Vi sikrer traditionsrige og moderne rammer om uddannelser og fri forskning på højt internationalt niveau. Vi søger svar og løsninger på fælles problemer og gør ny viden tilgængelig og nyttig for andre.

Kontakt
Caroline Marcussen
E-mail: [email protected]

Info
Ansøgningsfrist: 02-03-2025

Ansættelsesdato: 15-05-2025

Arbejdstid: Fuldtid

Afdeling/Sted: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences