Position overview
Partial
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Fields of study
Agricultural Sciences
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Country
Netherlands
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Deadline
2026-08-30
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Supervisor
Not specified
- Institute
- Source
- Website of the institution
- Email to apply
This open PhD listing is hosted by Wageningen University & Research, based in Netherlands. The advertised research focus covers Agricultural Sciences. The application deadline shown for this call is 2026-08-30. Funding notes on this listing: Partial. Key details, funding information, how to apply and a fuller description of the position are collected below from the source vacancy — verify dates and eligibility on the official apply page before submitting an application.
Key details
- Host institution: Wageningen University & Research
- Location: Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Application deadline: August 31, 2026
Funding
Not funded by a EU programme
Funding level (from listing): partial or not via EU framework — confirm on the official call.
How to apply
- Apply by email to [email protected] (subject line and attachments per the official instructions).
- Full vacancy text and updates: Euraxess listing.
About the position
Do you want to improve animal welfare and help make livestock farming more sustainable? Are you excited about connecting cutting-edge AI technology with farming to unlock the economic value of this technology? Do you want to make real-world impact with your research? Then this PhD position at Wageningen University & Research could be the perfect opportunity.
Feeding a growing global population sustainably is one of today’s greatest challenges. While diets are expected to become increasingly plant-based, livestock production will continue to play an important role. Improving animal welfare while reducing the environmental footprint of livestock systems is therefore essential for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) have been working on vision-based measurement of animal welfare in production animals. In the NWO-funded RealTimeAI4Livestock project, these technologies are further developed for applications in both breeding for animal welfare and early disease detection. Early detection can improve animal welfare while enabling more efficient interventions by farmers.
The aim of this PhD project is to gain insight into the economic value of using these AI vision-based technologies in animal farming. Although these technologies have great potential to improve animal welfare, their impact depends on farmers seeing sufficient economic benefits to adopt them.
Your key duties
- Develop a mechanistic stochastic bio-economic simulation model to quantify the production and economic impacts of livestock diseases, most likely in pig production.
- Estimate the economic value of disease interventions based on AI vision technologies.
- Develop system-use scenarios and evaluate them under various production circumstances.
- Design and conduct an adaptive choice-based conjoint study to understand farmers’ preferences for disease detection technologies.
- Collaborate with researchers at WUR and TU/e, as well as breeding companies, technology developers and other industry partners.
Where you will work
At Wageningen University you will be part of the Business Economics group (BEC) and will be co-supervised by the Animal Breeding and Genetics group (ABG). This multidisciplinary environment offers a unique opportunity to combine insights from animal science, economics, and AI technology.
The PhD candidate will work within a vibrant consortium of academic and industry partners, ensuring that the research has direct practical relevance and contributes to more sustainable and welfare-friendly livestock production systems.
Location
Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg, Wageningen, Netherlands