Funded PhD Studentship: Optimum strategies for UK beef producers to achieve net zero.

Harper Adams Business School

Project Title:  Optimum strategies for UK beef producers to achieve net zero.

Primary supervisor: Dr Daniel May

Co supervisors: Professor Karl Brehendt & Professor Jude Capper

Expected Start date and location

April 2026 onwards, based at Harper Adams University, Edgmond, Shropshire, UK.

Funding

The studentship covers the current Home Student (UK, Isle of Man & Channel Isles) tuition fees plus a yearly stipend. For 2025/6 this equates to £18,622 per year, with potential increases each academic year.

International applicants would need to be able to fund the difference between home and overseas fees (£11, 382 for the 2025/6 academic year) with a proportion being paid in full before Visa documentation can be issued. Please note that due to time frame for Visa applications the start date may have to be amended to January 2026.

Applicants

Applicants must hold a minimum of an upper second class (2:1) honours degree, or equivalent in a relevant discipline or a 2.2 alongside a relevant Master's degree with Merit, or potential for research based on alternative qualifications/experience judged acceptable by the university.

It would be desirable for applicants to hold a master’s degree in economics, business, or any social science with the following:

• Subject knowledge (economics, data science, agriculture, environmental science, or social science, structural equation modelling knowledge being an advantage)

• Experience of undertaking quantitative and qualitative research

• Experience of using data analysis and software (e.g. SPSS, smartPLS, R etc.)

• Ability to produce high-quality presentations and written reports

Project 

This project focuses on investigating beef producers’ incentives to adopt strategies aimed at achieving net zero (i.e. achieving emission levels close to zero). This involves analysing a range of drivers of farmer behaviour including economic, political, sociodemographic, and sociopsychological drivers, among others. Using the structural equation modelling approach, the student will identify what factors explain these incentives, information that will be used to propose ways to induce beef producers to adopt beneficial strategies to mitigate any negative effects from beef production on the environment. Building from this developed understanding, the student would then look to work with farmers and advisors to develop a decision support framework. This research will blend literature analysis, theoretical study, modelling and empirical analysis, contributing valuable insights into the world of farmers’ decision making and its significance for the future of our planet.

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