Research Asst, UCD School of Agriculture & Food Sci, 12 months

Applications are invited for a 12 months post of a Research Assistant within UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science. A Research Assistant is required to support research activities in the field of beef production, animal health and behaviour and rumen function and enteric methane mitigation research. There is a dual focus to this project a) to determine the impact of sward type on rumen function and enteric methane emissions and b) to assess the impact of sward type on animal grazing behaviour and animal health. Irish livestock production systems are predominantly pasture based and until recently sown pastures have been predominantly ryegrass monocultures. Such systems, while offering many competitive advantages from a feed cost perspective have a heavy reliance on fertiliser nitrogen application with its associated economic and environmental challenges. Recent work by this team has highlighted the potential of diverse swards (Multispecies swards) to enhance animal and sward performance from lower levels of fertiliser nitrogen. This current study will quantify the impacts of diverse on enteric methane emissions of animals grazing either a ryegrass monoculture, a perennial ryegrass/white clover sward or a six species multispecies sward through an enhanced understanding of the rumen fermentation parameters of these animal cohorts. Additionally the impact of sward type on animal grazing behaviour and subsequent animal intestinal parasite burdens will be assessed using a combination of manual and sensor based measurements. Salary: €32,962 per annum Closing date: 12:00 noon (local Irish time) on 11th July 2025 Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 12:00 noon (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system.UCD are unable to accept late applications.UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.

Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/