Associate professor (gn)

Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences

Associate professor (gn)

Academic recruitment in the scientific field of animal science and technology with a focus on livestock systems, animal breeding and genetics

Position

The position offered is at the associate professor level in livestock systems, animal breeding and genetic, whose competences range from topics related to livestock production systems (mainly dairy cows) and relations with health, animal welfare and performance. This may include monitoring of related indicators and management issues through digital components integrated into enterprise information systems. This is a tenured position with a teaching load of 120 hours/year in bachelor and/or master courses.

The research activities will focus on the evaluation and improvement of existing livestock production systems, through breeding, feeding and management in the context of current challenges (e.g., climate change, changing consumer demand). Digitalization should be used as a main transversal approach to all research activities in cooperation with other disciplines at the Free University of Bolzano. This could both concern: 1) the use of data coming from automated solutions for the sector; 2) and the support of the development knowledge management applications, to be adapted to the requirements of small and medium size agri-environmental enterprises.

The working place is in Bolzano, mainly at the Central Campus but also at the NOI Techpark laboratories.

The position offers a working opportunity in a team of experts open to collaborate on innovative and cross-disciplinary projects. Also, various funding possibilities (European, provincial, third sector and internal funds) are at disposal. A multilingual working environment completes the position (including free language teaching support to reach the required certifications).

Research directions

The associate professor may explore several diverse research directions that bridge aspects of animal science, agriculture, sustainability, and technology. Some of the key research areas may cover the following aspects:

1. Development of sustainable livestock production systems including climate adaptation studies and carbon footprint and methane reduction strategies
2. Breed development and conservation including the support of indigenous breed conservation, breed adaptation to local environments and hybrid vigor and crossbreeding
3. Developing systems for precision livestock farming, where genetic and phenotypic data are used to manage animals more efficiently and sustainably
4. Integration of new technologies like whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and metabolomics to understand and improve livestock systems
5. Optimization of the overall outcome of livestock production systems through genetic and/or management including animal welfare and behavioral genetics, management practices for welfare and the use of genomic data to predict traits such as disease resistance, growth rate, reproductive efficiency, and feed conversion
6. Interdisciplinary topics:
7. Smart livestock farming
8. Automation and robotics
9. Economic and social aspects of animal breeding
10. Bioinformatics and data integration in livestock genetics

The profile of the candidate must fulfil the following criteria

1. Holder of an equivalent academic position at the candidate’s current foreign university as required in the “Direct call from abroad” Italian legislation
2. Postdoctoral research in the scientific field mentioned above
3. Documented above-average performance in teaching
4. Research publications in highly ranked journals and contributions to high-level conferences (international and national)
5. German at C1 level or mother tongue and adequate knowledge of English or Italian is required.