RVC Supervisor(s): Dr Stuart Patterson, Dr Richard Booth, Dr Jackie Cardwell

Department: Pathobiology and Population Sciences

Background, aims and objectives:

Rewilding is a nature-based approach to facilitating natural regeneration of intensively managed land, and has become a popular idea in the UK and Europe. Seen as a means of addressing biodiversity loss, rewilded systems regularly use domestic livestock species to replicate the ecological habitat creation functions (such as sward height diversity and bull pit creation) of other species that are less practical to introduce. Whilst these animals, referred to here as Wild Kept Ruminants (WKR), may well still be harvested for meat, their principal purpose is not food production. There is, however, no separate regulatory category for these animals and they are considered as food-producing animals. As such, managers have an enhanced responsibility towards these animals compared to other sympatric species (e.g. wild deer) in terms of health and welfare.  

Health and welfare of traditional livestock has been studied extensively. However, given that the primary goal of a dairy herd health plan is maximising a herd’s long-term milk yield, it does not seem appropriate to directly translate existing health metrics across to WKR. Whilst tempting to see health as a constant, in reality definitions of health are context-specific social concepts based upon expectations of a species. What constitutes good health for WKR is likely to be influenced by factors related to their ecological function, amongst other considerations.  

Whilst the primary utilization is not food production, meat may be a useful by-product with economic impacts on overall land management. For land managers and governments to make informed decisions about land-use change a full understanding of both the health and productivity of WKR is necessary. This project will collate information from UK rewilding units on health and productivity values to learn what data is being generated, how these animals compare to those in traditional systems, and how their health relates to function.

References

1. Corson, M.S., Mondière, A., Morel, L. and van der Werf, H.M., 2022. Beyond agroecology: Agricultural rewilding, a prospect for livestock systems. Agricultural Systems, 199, p.103410.                           
2. Gordon, I.J., Pérez-Barbería, F.J. and Manning, A.D., 2021. Rewilding lite: Using traditional domestic livestock to achieve rewilding outcomes. Sustainability, 13(6), p.3347.                     
3. Stephen, C., 2022. What Is Wildlife Health?. In Wildlife Population Health (pp. 3-12). Cham: Springer International Publishing

Requirements

Essential:

• Applicants must have a minimum of a 2:i BSc or equivalent in a relevant subject (e.g. biology, ecology, veterinary medicine, etc).
• An existing understanding of either cattle herd health or rewilding ecology
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and team working skills, with both scientists and external stakeholders
• Willingness and ability to travel to collect data from UK field sites
• Strong organisational and time management skills 
• A flexible approach and ability to work with a team of collaborators, as well as independently.

Desirable:

• Experience of working with farmers and/or wildlife management groups
• Master’s degree in a relevant topic (e.g. ecology, epidemiology)
• Understanding of basic epidemiological concepts
• Experience contributing to or leading research papers.

Fees and Funding

This is a 3-year fully-funded studentship, funded by the RVC Internal Studentship Award. This funding covers 'Home' rate tuition fees and a stipend. 

The studentship will commence in October 2025 at the RVC's Hawkshead campus.

This studentship is open to applicants eligible for "Home" fees. International applicants are welcome to apply but must be able to fund the difference between "Home" and "Overseas" tuition fees. 

EU/EEA and Swiss national students starting studies in the 2021/22 academic year or later academic years may no longer be eligible to pay the “home” rate of tuition fees nor claim any financial support for their studies dependent on your personal circumstances (including immigration status and residence history in the UK). To help determine whether you would be eligible for home fees please see the UKCISA's 'Who pays 'home' fees for higher education in England?' guide found here.

If you are interested in applying for this PhD project, please follow the link below.  Please use your personal statement to demonstrate any previous skills or experience you have that are relevant to this project.

How to Apply

For more information on the application process and English Language requirements see How to Apply.

Interviews are expected to take place in person at our Hawkshead campus or remotely on Thursday 20th March 2025.

We welcome informal enquiries - these should be directed to Stuart Patterson SPatterson@rvc.ac.uk

Deadline: 12/02/2025