PhD fellowship in Veterinary Epidemiology

at  Kbenhavns Universitet

We are offering a PhD fellowship in Veterinary Epidemiology commencing 1 February 2025 or after agreement.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Since 2000, the Danish Veterinary Medicines Statistics Program (VetStat) collects and stores information on all medicines prescribed by veterinarians and purchased from a pharmacy or feed mills. Such data is used by the authorities to monitor national levels of antimicrobial consumption, as well as to set goals for their reduction. At different time points, changes in legislation alter prescription practices in Denmark, therefore affecting antimicrobial consumption patterns. One example of legislation change is the Yellow Card Scheme, established in 2010, which defines limits to antimicrobial consumption in herds, based on age and antibiotic group. Another recent change with expected effects on prescription practices is the EU-level harmonization of the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) for active substances in antibiotic products, in 2022. This PhD project will mainly be focused on the epidemiology of veterinary antibiotic use, through data analyses and time-series models. However, the data validation part of the PhD will also include herd-level data collection through herd visits, interviews and questionnaires.
One part of this PhD will try to validate Vetstat records by comparing them with farm records, so data from Vetstat can be translated into actual monitoring of treatment behaviors. Antibiotic purchase data are continuously collected over time for individual herds, and aggregated at regional or national level, so the dataset for each herd or region can be seen as a time-series. Based on that, another part of the PhD will investigate the possibility of applying time-series models commonly used in process control to raw and farm-validated Vetstat data, to detect and predict deviations from normal consumption levels. Finally, if the previous step is successful, a last part will be to use the result of those models to estimate an effect of SPC or changes in Yellow Card factors and thresholds on antibiotic prescription practice after each intervention. The final project design and a more detailed methodology will be described after the employment, so the candidate can have some influence over their own research.
Principal supervisor is Associate Professor Leonardo Víctor de Knegt, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, lvdk@sund.ku.dk, Direct Phone: +45 35 32 40 62.
Main Co-supervisor: Adjunct Professor Lis Alban (Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Danish Agriculture and Food Council)
Project supervisor: Assistant Professor Amanda Brinch Kruse (Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences)
Start: 1 February 2025
Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

JOB DESCRIPTION

Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying through 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 with 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

• Carrying through 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 with 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 projec