PhD Studentship - Mathematical and statistical tools to quantify disease 
in aquaculture

Closing Date: Friday, 15th April 2016 http://www.sruc.ac.uk/jobs

Applications are sought from exceptional candidates with backgrounds in 
mathematical or related disciplines, for the above PhD position to carry 
out research into the development and application of mathematical 
approaches to solving problems in the aquaculture industry. The 
studentship provides the opportunity to acquire highly transferrable 
skills including experience in developing state-of-the-art methods for 
stochastic and statistical modelling, and will develop tools for 
quantifying and controlling disease in aquaculture systems.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world, 
currently worth $120bn, and accounts for 17% of animal protein consumed 
worldwide, a number set to double in the next 20 years. In the UK, fish 
farming is led by salmon production, worth over £600m per year, and 
trout, worth over £50m. In the context of the growing population, 
aquaculture has great potential to contribute to sustainable food 
supplies, and is thus vital to food security. However, to achieve this 
vision a key requirement is to reduce both losses to disease and the 
social, environmental and economic costs of controlling outbreaks.

This is a joint project between BioSS, SRUC and the University of 
Stirling. BioSS are at the forefront of the development and application 
of mathematical modelling and statistical methods for a wide range of 
applications. SRUC’s Disease Systems team use mathematical modelling, 
experimental and statistical approaches to understand and quantify the 
biological drivers behind a range of issues in the agricultural sector. 
The University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture’s research focuses 
on fundamental questions relating to strategies for sustainable 
aquaculture, and is the biggest aquaculture institute of its type in the 
world. The project also involves the Dept of Computing Science and 
Mathematics at Stirling, who have considerable experience in 
mathematical approaches to problems in aquaculture.

The mathematical methods developed in this project will be applied to 
diseases such as infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) and pancreas 
disease (PD), which are responsible for significant economic losses to 
the industry. The work will also have applicability to other aspects of 
aquacultural epidemiology and, more broadly in, ecology and 
epidemiology. It is anticipated that this will initiate a line of 
research with significant future potential. A key aim is to develop 
advanced statistical tools including data augmented MCMC and related 
methods to characterise and quantify disease spread and progression, 
including the effect of host genetic factors from key aquaculture data 
sets. This will provide a means to estimate critical parameters as well 
as extend understanding of the potential performance of control options.

In addition to mathematical abilities (with a 2:1 or higher in 
mathematics or related discipline), candidates should be in possession 
of strong IT skills and be able to demonstrate the ability to 
communicate research both at a general level and to scientists from a 
range of disciplines. It is anticipated that the successful candidates 
will foster strong links across all of the research groups involved as 
well as more broadly with other partner organisations and beyond. 
Experience with any of stochastic processes, dynamical systems, complex 
systems, Bayesian statistics, MCMC, R and C++, as well as experience 
working with and understanding research literature will all be highly 
beneficial. It is expected that the students will present their work at 
national and international conferences, as well as attending workshops 
and summer schools.

The stipend for this studentship is £14,057 pa (subject to revision in 
2016) over 3.5 years, with an anticipated start date of 1st September 
2016 (although an earlier start date is negotiable depending on 
circumstances). The student will be based at SRUC’s Roslin Institute 
Building or Stirling, registered for a PhD at the University of 
Stirling, and will be expected to make frequent visits to all partner 
institutions.

To discuss this post informally potential candidates are invited to 
contact Dr Ross Davidson ([log in to unmask]) or Dr Andrew Hoyle 
([log in to unmask]). To apply please fill out the online application 
form available at www.sruc.ac.uk/jobs including a CV and covering letter 
explaining why you are suited to the post. Alternatively application 
packs can be requested from [log in to unmask] Tel 0131 535 
4028 quoting reference SRUC/1030397/Davidson

The closing date for the return of applications is 5pm on Friday 15th 
April 2016. We expect to hold interviews on or around Friday 29th April 
2016.

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  Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland,  +44 (0)131 650 4898
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  Edinburgh, EH9 3FD                     PhD opportunities: bit.ly/1Nesi5l

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Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) is formally part of The
James Hutton Institute (JHI), a registered Scottish charity No. SC041796
and a company limited by guarantee No. SC374831

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