Research Assistant / Postdoctoral Research Associate: Imported Rescue Dogs Policy - Grade 6/7

This is an exciting opportunity for an animal welfare scientist to wishing to investigate and influence policy on a current canine welfare issue.

We are looking for an individual with quantitative data handling skills to join our team on a short-term basis to contribute to our government-funded research. Importing rescue dogs into the UK is an unregulated but increasingly popular phenomenon. Whether rescue dogs should be allowed to be imported into the UK is a fiercely debated subject within the veterinary and rescue communities. This led to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commissioning UoL researchers to investigate the welfare implications of importing rescue dogs in order to inform policy, including around movement changes instigated by Brexit and bans on certain countries due to the war in Ukraine. Detailed movement data of at least some of these dogs from within and outwith the EU, into the UK, are collected in various recording systems for commercial movements (Balai Directive) and pet passports (for non-commercial movements, but we know these are being used illegally for dogs when transferring ownership).

In this short-term post you will join the Department of Livestock and One Health and design a system to capture and analyse historical dog movement data. In addition, in order to further understand movements and practices, you will collate a database of information available about importing rescues and their practices.

You will work closely with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, DEFRA, and Dogs Trust, including attending in-person and online policy meetings, in order to better understand current data formats, future data needs and pathways to effective policy impacts. Data from the funded project will be used as part of the final wider report for Defra which is due to be submitted in Aug 2023.

The post is estimated to start on 1st March 2023, for four months until 30th June 2023. Due to the short-term nature of the post, home and flexible working is possible, but some travel required.

You must have experience and qualifications in an animal, veterinary or health field at undergraduate or post-graduate level, preferably a PhD. You will be able to use statistical programs such as R to manipulate and analyse data, and a keen interest in animal welfare policy.

Any applicants for the Post-Doctoral Research Associate role who are still awaiting their PhD to be awarded should be aware that if successful, they will be appointed at grade 6, spine point 30. Upon written confirmation that they have been successful in being awarded their PhD, they will be moved onto grade 7, spine point 31 from the date of their award.

The University has the right to close the vacancy early if it is deemed that there have been enough applications received