PhD fellowship in Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring and Decision Support at Animal and Herd Level

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen



We are offering a PhD fellowship in Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring and Decision Support at Animal and Herd Level commencing 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Our group and research
The hired PhD student will join the research group Data & Modelling which currently has 9 members, including one research assistant, two PhD students, and 6 associate professors. Our research group is focused advanced methods for monitoring and modelling data from animal production systems. This includes the use of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods.

Project description
The PhD project will be focused on developing, assessing, and comparing traditional and modern ML and AI methods in terms of their utility and practicality for monitoring diverse types of time series data recorded at the levels of herds, groups of animals, and individual animals. The project will be based on already available data sets, and the collection of new data is not expected to be a part of this project.

The data sets will include

• Herd level input and production data with the aims of estimating e.g. infection status or environmental impact
• Sensor data record on or around individuals or groups of animals with the aim of classifying health status or behaviour patterns
• Video data recorded of individuals or groups of animals with the aim of classifying health status or behaviour patterns

The ML/AI methods will include

• Traditional time series modelling, specifically dynamic linear models (a type of state space model)
• Neural network-based time series models, specifically transformers
• Convolutional neural networks, for encoding video frames
• Closed frontier large language models (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini)
• Small open weights models to be run locally (e.g. Qwen3.5-9B, OpenAI gpt-oss-20b, Mistral Ministral 3 8B Reasoning)

The exact combinations of data sets and methods will depend on the specific project formulated by the applicant during an initial three-month employment as a research assistant.

Principal supervisor isAssociate professor Dan Børge Jensen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, [email protected], Direct Phone: +4535333021.

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student + 3 months as research assistant for enrolment


Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying through an independent research project under supervision.

• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

PhD Programme Description:
The PhD programme is a three-year full-time research education within the framework of the 5+3 scheme, intended for candidates holding a relevant academic degree within the project’s subject area (e.g., Anima Science).

Qualifications:
If you have completed your academic education in Denmark, the admission to the PhD programme requires a relevant Master’s degree (equivalent to 180 ECTS BSc + 120 ECTS MSc).

If you have an academic education from abroad, you must have either a degree equivalent to a Danish master's degree (180 ETCS + 120 ECTS MSc), or at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Danish bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) and be academically qualified at master's level.

As part of the assessment of whether you meet the educational requirements, you must also achieve a positive academic evaluation and be assessed as the best qualified for the position.

The successful candidate should further be able to demonstrate the following:

• Mastery of the R language for statistical computing
• Practical experience with the Keras and Tensorflow R packages
• Practical experience with state space models (e.g. dynamic linear models) for time series modelling
• Practical experience with training and evaluating fully connected artificial neural networks
• Practical experience with training and evaluating convolutional neural networks
• Practical experience with training and evaluating transformer neural networks
• Practical experience with the use of large language models via API calls

Other important criteria are:

• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• Language skills

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories and modern computer hardware for training artificial neural networks.

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s successful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant during an initial three-month employment as a research assistant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 27,800 DKK/Roughly 3,700 EUR (October 2021 level) plus pension.

You can read more about salary levels in the state sector www.loenoverblik.dk (in Danish).

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 7 October 2026, 23.59pm CEST.

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 45 or 46.

The University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.