Job Title:Assistant Professor in Ruminant Nutrition

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
Role Profile Form

School/Department:School of Biosciences - Division of Animal Sciences

Salary:£34,233 - £45,954 per annum, depending on skills and experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.

Job Family and Level:Research and Teaching Extended level 5

Contract Status:Permanent

Hours of Work:Full Time

Location:Sutton Bonington Campus

Reporting to:Head of the Animal Sciences Division

Purpose of the Role:

The purpose of this role will be to lead and deliver individual and collaborative research and teaching in the area of Ruminant Nutrition, and make a contribution to the direction of research programmes in the School of Biosciences.

The role will be responsible for generating new intellectual understanding/knowledge through the application of knowledge and for developing ideas for application of research and teaching outcomes.

The post holder will develop new concepts and ideas and will be expected, where appropriate, to develop and win support for innovative research and/or teaching development proposals and funding bids.

The post holder will make a significant contribution to their academic unit via leadership and/or administrative management and/or co-ordination of specific initiatives.

Main Responsibilities
1. / To take the lead on, plan, develop and conduct individual and/or collaborative research objectives, projects and proposals either as an individual or as part of a broader programme.
2. / To establish a national reputation and regularly disseminate and explain research findings through leading peer-reviewed national publications (on a sustained basis), conferences and other appropriate media.
3. / To generate income by developing and winning support for innovative research proposals and funding bids. Where appropriate undertake consultancy projects where there is a demonstrable benefit to the University and academic unit.
4. / To deliver teaching across a range of modules or within a subject area, providing curriculum leadership within own area of expertise
5. / Be responsible for the design of course modules and/or programmes of study in specialist area and for their quality. Where appropriate identify the need for developing the content or structure of existing modules and make proposals on how this should be achieved.
6. / To supervise and examine Post graduate, Masters and PhD students.
7. / To coach and support tutorial groups, developing their knowledge and their learning skills, and be responsible for the pastoral care of students within a specified area, dealing with sensitive issues.
8. / Be responsible for and comply with The University of Nottingham Teaching Quality assurance standards and procedures. Ensure teaching quality assessment and assessment of progress and other information is maintained and supplied to the University as required
9. / To build relationships and collaborate actively with internal and external contacts, nationally and if appropriate internationally to complete research projects and to advance the discipline.
10. / Be responsible for administrative duties in areas such as admissions, timetabling, examinations, student attendance, and represent the school on various committees and working groups in the wider University and outside of the University and managing or monitoring assets and budgets allocated as part of the role.
11. / To contribute to student recruitment and secure student placements and provide appropriate advice to others involved in this activity
12. / Be responsible for the safe conduct of work within work area and teaching responsibilities ensuring that the School's arrangements for compliance with the University Safety Policy are implemented.
13. / Be responsible for and supervise practical work, including projects, field trips or placements, where it is part of the course, and advise students on techniques.
For Lecturers with line management responsibilities:
To act as a line manager to staff (e.g. researchers, technicians) and supervise the work of others, in subject curriculum teams including performance review.
To coach and support colleagues in developing their research and teaching techniques.
Acting as a mentor to colleagues with less experience and providing advice on personal development.
To co-ordinate the work of colleagues to ensure modules are delivered to the required quality standards and there is equitable access to resources and facilities.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience

Essential / Desirable
Qualifications/ Education / PhD or equivalent in relevant subject area. / Higher Education teaching qualification or equivalent.
Membership of a professional body where appropriate.
Skills/Training / Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate with clarity on complex and conceptual ideas to those with limited knowledge and understanding as well as to peers, using high level skills and a range of media.
Sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in the discipline to develop research programmes and methodologies.
Ability to devise, advise on and manage learning and research programmes.
Ability to manage resources and an understanding of management processes.
High level analytical capability to facilitate conceptual thinking, innovation and creativity.
Skills in counselling, pastoral care and motivating students.
Emerging skills in managing and motivating staff.
Ability to build relationships and collaborate with others, internally and externally.
Experience / Experience of developing research methodologies and devising models, approaches, techniques, critiques and methods.
Research experience within Ruminant Nutrition.
Experience and achievement in Ruminant Nutrition, reflected in growing and consistent national reputation.
Evidence of publication record.
Experience and demonstrated success in delivering teaching within an agreed quality framework. / International reputation in specialist field which continues to grow.
Experience, achievement and growing reputation in the discipline, reflected in relevant national committee memberships, and/or involvement in national research events.
A consistent track record of published research in peer reviewed journals.
Extensive experience and demonstrated success in delivering research results
Experience of devising, advising on and managing learning and research programmes.
Experience of counselling, pastoral care and motivating students.
Statutory/Legal

Decision Making

i)Taken independently by the role holder;

Planning general research programme and direction
Making individual decisions about design and conduct of particular experiments
Devising applications for new research funding
Planning the content and delivery of teaching

ii)Taken in collaboration with others;

Collaborative research applications
Structure/content of joint modules

iii)Referred to the appropriate line manager by the role holder;

Any items implying changes in School policy.

Additional Information

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Phil Garnsworthy, Professor of Dairy Science and Head of Division, tel: 0115 951 6100, email:

Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.

Applicants will be considered on an equal basis, subject to the relevant permission to work in the UK as defined by the requirements set out by the UK Border and Immigration Agency. Please visit for more information.

NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BIOSCIENCES

Assistant / Associate Professor in Ruminant Nutrition

Further Particulars

The University of Nottinghamis committed to providing a truly international education, inspiring our students, producing world-leading research and benefitting the communities around our campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. Our purpose is to improve life for individuals and societies worldwide. By bold innovation and excellence in all that we do, we make both knowledge and discoveries matter.

Our vision is to be widely recognised as the first choice of:

students who want a top quality, international education
researchers who want the best opportunity to make a significant global impact
businesses that want innovative partners who give them an edge on their competition

By attracting ambitious and talented students, staff, and business partners, we will firmly establish ourselves among the top 10 UK universities by 2015, and both of our campuses in Asia will be recognised as leading higher education providers within their regions. Our vision is to be recognised around the world for our signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy and sustainability, and health.

The School of Biosciences is one of the largest Schools in the University and is part of the Faculty of Science. It is one of two Schools based on the Sutton Bonington Campus which has its own farm and animal research facilities. The School was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary prize on 24 February 2012 for Global Food Security and leads the Bioenergy agenda for the University. There is a collegiate approach to collaboration within the School and with other Schools and Faculties. Joint programmes of research are actively encouraged. The School attracts funding from BBSRC, EPSRC, EU, Defra, AHDB, Agri-Tech, Charities and Industry and was ranked 1st in its Unit of Assessment for the last Research Assessment Exercise (2008).

Further information concerning the School of Biosciences can be found using the following link:

The Division of Animal Sciences has an international reputation for research in animal nutrition, reproduction, embryology, epigenetics, neurophysiology, and bioethics. Research ranges from the molecular scale to whole animals and livestock systems. We also offer a taught-masters degree in ‘Animal Nutrition’ and an extremely popular undergraduate degree in ‘Animal Sciences’, which was ranked top UK Animal Science degree by the Sunday Times in 2014.

Example research topics within the Division of Animal Sciences

Methane emissions by individual dairy cows – nutrition, genetic and management influences; on-farm measurement in large populations.
Interactions among production level, nutrition, feed efficiency, methane emissions and nitrogen excretion in dairy cows.
Nutritive value of bioethanol co-products for dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry.
Rumen function and its influence on health, feed efficiency and environmental impact; relations between the cow genome and rumen microbiome.
Fatty acid metabolism in relation to milk and meat composition, rumen health, and lipidomics.
The physiology of reproduction in mammals, particularly in relation to improving or regulating fertility through nutritional manipulation of metabolic hormones.
Environmental epigenetic programming of early mammalian development - effects of assisted reproduction, exposure to environmental chemicals and parental nutrition around the time of conception.

Facilities for research relevant to the position include: dairy research centre with 240 high-yielding (11,000 L/yr) cows, robotic milking and individual feeding of 60 cows; facilities for individual beef, sheep and dairy animals during growth and metabolism studies; open-circuit respiration chambers for lactating cows and other animals; on-site abattoir with carcass dissection hall; facilities for in vivo, in situ and in vitro studies of rumen function; laboratories for feed analysis, biochemistry (including HPLC, GC-MS, amino acids), cell culture (including mammary MAC-T) and molecular biology (including sequencing), a proteomics suite, cell and tissue imaging (including dual photon confocal microscopy), and endocrinology. Additional facilities within the School of Biosciences and adjacent School of Veterinary Medicine and Science include food science and microbiology labs, array and sequencing facilities, the Advanced Centre for Data Analyses, the Centre for Integrative Biology, state-of-the-art small animal facilities, including surgical and imaging suites (e.g. CT, DEXA, nuclear scintigraphy).

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