Funded PhD Studentship: Optimum strategies for UK beef producers to achieve net zero
Research Office
| Location: |
Newport, Shropshire TF10 8NB |
| Salary: |
As per advert
|
| Post Type: |
Full Time |
| Contract Type: |
Fixed Term
- 36 months funded
|
| Closing Date: |
23.59 hours BST on Friday 16 May 2025
|
| Reference: |
RD-PHD-01-DM-MH-25 |
Project Title: Optimum strategies for UK beef producers to achieve net zero
Primary supervisor: Daniel May
Co supervisors: Karl Behrendt and Jude Capper
Expected Start date and location
October 2025, 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 £20, 780 per year, with potential increases each academic year in line with UKRI.
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.
This project presents a great opportunity for someone with a passion for research in the environmental sustainability of UK beef production and farmers’ strategic behaviour. Candidates should have at least a 2:1 BSc (Hons) in economics, agricultural economics, business or data science, consideration will be given to candidates holding a 2.2 alongside a Master's degree at Merit, or potential for research based on alternative qualifications/experience judged acceptable by the University. The successful candidate will work on an exciting project as part of APB Foods UK’s PRISM 2030 project and join an enthusiastic research team located in a beautiful rural setting. This position is generously funded by ABP Foods UK’s PRISM 2030 project and the Perry Foundation.
Project description:
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.
Harper Adams University is one of the premier UK Higher Education institutions focused on the land-based and food supply chain sector. With around 2,800 undergraduate students, plus those completing postgraduate, research and CPD programmes, Harper Adams University is the UK's largest single provider of higher education for these subjects. Programmes fall into eleven broad subject areas – but none operate in isolation. Community and collaboration are key at Harper Adams, meaning everyone, including staff, students and industry partners, benefits from a close network of knowledge and opportunity exchange. Situated in Shropshire, the campus and the surrounding area provide an excellent working and living environment for staff and students alike.
Harper Adams is consistently positioned highly in a range of national ratings, performance measures and league tables. The University has been the highest performing modern university in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide for the last four years, climbing to 17th place in the overall league table. In the 2020 guide Harper Adams was named Modern University of the Year and runner-up University of the Year. In the 2019 Whatuni? Student Choice Awards, based on student reviews, Harper Adams won the Student Support category for the fifth time – the only university to have taken the title since the awards began - and won the category for best job prospects for a fourth year running. In the 2020 QS World Rankings for Agriculture and Forestry published in March 2020, Harper Adams was ranked first in the UK for academic reputation and second in the world for its reputation with employers.
Harper Adams University is internationally recognised for the quality of its research, as evidenced by the Research Excellence Framework 2022. In order to maintain and uphold the high standards of our research, we continue to undertake initiatives to ensure that integrity, ethics and excellence are at the core of our research activities and fully embedded in our research culture.
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