Senior Researcher

Title: Reader in Dairy AgriTech

Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Salary: £45,476 – £52,619 per annum

Location: SRUC Barony Campus, Dumfries

Closing Date: 15 February 2024

Ref: ASWF/AGR/022/23

SRUC is unique in Scotland and one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. Our ambitious and exciting vision is to work at local, national and international levels, leading innovation and sustainable development in agriculture and rural sectors.

An exciting opportunity has become available for a Reader at our Dairy Research Centre in Dumfries.

This post is part of the exciting £21.3 million Strength in Places Project “Digital Dairy Value-Chain for South-West Scotland and Cumbria” that SRUC is leading along with University of Strathclyde, University of the West of Scotland, CENSIS, First Milk Limited, Lactalis McLelland Limited, Kendal Nutricare Limited, Cows & Co Group Limited, National Milk Records PLC and SmartSTEMs.

Based in SRUC’s Dairy Research & Innovation Centre and working with a wide range of project partners and stakeholders across South-West Scotland and Cumbria, the purpose of this post is to foster the development and adoption of useful agritech in the regional dairy sector by:

· Innovation scouting;

· Participation in product development, including data management and integration, using SRUC’s dairy farms as a test-bed;

· Outreach and knowledge exchange with the sector.

The post would be extremely suitable for a candidate with data engineering and database management background in the agri-tech sector. It will involve close collaboration and building pipelines with data scientists developing a digital twin of the SRUC dairy farm and working on a range of data sources and project areas, including:

· Use of weather and farm information (including from networked meteorological stations) in the management of fertiliser, manure and agrochemical applications;

· Methods to monitor crop growth and quality;

· Development and use of methods to monitoring biodiversity;

· Use of animal mounted sensors in managing cow physiology, behaviour welfare;

· Developing new outputs based on high-throughput analysis of milk;

· Contributing to maintenance and curation of dairy farm datasets and affiliated databases;

· Use of research equipment for recording feed intake, meal patterns, methane emissions and energy expenditure.

Closing date: 15 February 2024

Further information

Please read the Job Particulars Document before proceeding with your application.

Apply

To apply for this role, please use the SRUC online application system. CVs will not be accepted without a completed application form.