Postdoc position – Modelling the economic and other burdens of animal disease

at  Wageningen University Research

ARE YOU THE ENTHUSIASTIC AND COLLABORATIVE ANIMAL DISEASE MODELLER WITH AN INTEREST IN DEVELOPING METHODS TO IMPROVE ANIMAL HEALTH DECISION MAKING? THEN WE HAVE THE RIGHT POSITION FOR YOU!

The Business Economics Group of Wageningen University is looking for an ambitious and enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher with expertise in animal disease modelling. The candidate will work on the societal burden of animal diseases, which is multifaceted. For decades, the field of animal health economics has worked on estimating the economic burden of animal diseases, thereby supporting decisions of farmers and other stakeholders in food supply chains. This has been the core of our work at Wageningen University also. However, besides the economic burden, animal diseases may also have an animal welfare, environmental and public health burden which are increasingly valued by society. While estimates of the economic burden of disease are commonly available, quantitative information of the other, non-monetary burdens is mostly absent. With this project, we aim to develop methods to estimate these burdens and to jointly evaluate them using simulation models.
You will work in an interdisciplinary research project of the European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare, in which a consortium of several leading institutes working on socio-economic aspects of animal diseases, including Wageningen University, is collaborating. In this project, a methodological framework will be developed to simultaneously evaluate the different societal disease burdens. The framework will be applied to a “bioburden” simulation model, which can be considered an extension of the common bioeconomic model, to estimate the total societal disease burden. Focus will be on dairy cow lameness and mastitis but the framework should be applicable to other diseases and animal species as well.

Your tasks include to:

• jointly develop a methodological framework to assess the welfare burden of diseases in dairy cows;
• extend an existing bio-economic simulation model (in R) with the animal welfare, environmental and public health impacts of animal diseases;
• support further research needed to develop this simulation model;
• publish research on the multiple burdens of dairy cow diseases;
• present results at relevant scientific meetings;
• contribute to new research initiatives of the Business Economics Group.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.226 and € 5.090 for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). We offer you a temporary contract for 24 months.
There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “ Best University ” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

• jointly develop a methodological framework to assess the welfare burden of diseases in dairy cows;
• extend an existing bio-economic simulation model (in R) with the animal welfare, environmental and public health impacts of animal diseases;
• support further research needed to develop this simulation model;
• publish research on the multiple burdens of dairy cow diseases;
• present results at relevant scientific meetings;
• contribute to new research initiatives of the Business Economics Group