PhD Studentship: Food Safety Risks Associated with Pets Fed Raw Diets in the Clinical Environment

Award summary

100% of home-fees, minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate).  

Overview

If you are interested in improving pet food safety standards through a multi-disciplinary PhD project, then look no further.

There is an increasing trend for feeding pets raw food, but limited evidence is available on whether pets fed these diets pose any increased risk to veterinary practice staff and other patients when examined or hospitalised. Certain foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Yersinia, and E. coli are known to occur in raw diets and could be passed to people. However, as yet many aspects of pathogen load and shedding, as well as environmental contamination, remain unknown.

The main hypotheses this project will explore are that pathogens occur at a higher prevalence in pets fed raw diets than conventional processed diets, and specific pathways increase risks of pathogen transmission from raw food into clinical environments.  

If you take on this challenge, you will assess the risks which may be associated with living with and providing clinical care to pets fed raw diets. This will facilitate development of appropriate biosecurity protocols for veterinary treatment, reducing transmission potential of pathogens and their AMR traits. To achieve this, you will create ‘living’ portals of evidence; develop laboratory techniques to sample food, faecal and environmental samples for pathogens; deliver epidemiological investigations and spend time within clinical veterinary practices to identify potential transmission routes.

Number of awards: One

Start date: 16^th September 2024

Award duration: 3 years

Sponsor: IAFRI

Supervisors

Dr. K. Marie McIntyre (Newcastle University), Ms. Emiline Quill (Fera Science Ltd.) and Dr. Jenny Stavisky (VetPartners)

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 honours degree or international equivalent in biological/microbiological sciences or related discipline. A clinical qualification (e.g. veterinary surgery, veterinary nursing) is ideal, but not essential.

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.

The studentship covers fees at the Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.

How to apply

All applicants should complete the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal - applyto.newcastle.ac.uk.

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8020F  
• Research Area: Biological Sciences
• Select ‘PhD Biology’ as the programme of study   

You will then need to provide the following information in ‘Further Details’:  

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form  
• The studentship code SNES279a in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field  
• When prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal. 

In the ‘Supporting Documentation’ section please upload: 

• Your CV

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

Contact details: k.m.mcintyre@newcastle.ac.uk

Advert information