Assessing the impact of progressive organic farming standards on the nutritional quality of dairy products. at University of Exeter

The University of Exeter’s Department of Public Health and Sports Sciences is inviting applications for a 4 year PhD studentship funded by Yeo Valley to commence in October 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. For eligible students the studentship will cover Home tuition fees plus an annual tax-free stipend of at least £20,780 for 4years full-time, or pro rata for part-time study. The student would be based in St Luke’s campus in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences but with some work carried out at the Streatham Campus.

Dairy products are nutrient dense wholefoods that can contribute towards a healthy diet. Environmental concerns over animal-derived food production are driving industry innovations for progressive and responsible organic farming standards. While such practices positively influence various ethical and environmental metrics of dairy production, the extent to which it influences product nutrient density and quality has received less attention. In this project, working with our partner Yeo valley, we will take a multidisciplinary approach to address three progressive research aims: 1) systematically (review) assess and define what constitutes a healthy whole (dairy) food; 2) using the previously identified characterisation, conduct nutritional analyses (e.g. metabolomics) of dairy products produced from differing farming practices to assess their health potential; 3) conduct a human trial designed to assess the impact of previously identified nutrients/dairy products on key markers of human metabolism and/or health. This studentship would suit an enthusiastic and driven student interesting in developing their multi-disciplinary research skills in systematic reviews, metabolomic analysis of food products and conducting human volunteer physiological trials.

The collaboration involves a project partner who is providing funding and dairy products that will be used in the studies. This means there are special terms that apply to the project, these will be discussed with Candidates at Interview and fully set out in the offer letter. The collaboration with the named project partner is subject to contract. Please note full details of the project partner’s contribution and involvement with the project is still to be confirmed and may change during the course of contract negotiations. Full details will be confirmed at offer stage.