Invited Speakers
Session 1
Emeritus Professor Frank Annison, Ph.D, D.Sc, A.M.
Born (1926), raised and educated in London. Graduated in Chemistry, (1st Class Hons) in 1946, and completed Ph.D. studies at Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, Chelsea, in 1950 before joining the newly established Institute of Animal Physiology, Cambridge in 1951.
Seconded to the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen (1951-52) before leaving Cambridge in 1958 to join the Faculty of Rural Science, University of New England in Armidale, NSW. Returned to the U.K. in 1965 to take up a position at Unilever Research Division at Colworth House, Bedford.
In 1974 was appointed to the Chair of Animal Husbandry (later termed Animal Science) at the University of Sydney, and based at Camden. The Headship of the Department, and the position of Director of the Poultry and Dairy Foundations were rotated on a three yearly basis which I did until 1991.
Retired in 1994.
Research interests have largely focused on the physiology and metabolism of ruminants, pigs and chickens.
Dr. Balkar Bains B.V.Sc; M.A.C.V.Sc
Graduated from the Veterinary School, University of Queensland in 1964 and immediately pursued a career in the poultry industry. For the first 12 years, employed as a Senior Technical manager by Provinical Traders P/L. During this period apart from establishing a diagnostic laboratory, the notable achievements include, successful production of Infectious Bronchitis vaccine for commercial use, Salmonella epidemiology, Selenium in poultry feed and the first time recognition of the presence of Reo and Adeno viruses and their significance in the poultry industry in Australia.
From 1973-76, as an external lecturer taught poultry diseases to the fifth year Veterinary Science students. During 1977, was employed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pathology and Public Health at Massey University, New Zealand.
From there onwards employed by Roche Products P/L as a Director of VFC division for the first 10 years and Director of Technical Services (Far East Asia) till 1994.
The subsequent years, was retained as a consultant to Roche Products VFC division with a focus on the poultry industry. During this period, written 3 books, Manual of Poultry Diseases, Application of Vitamins in Commercial Poultry, Physiological and metabolic functions of Ascorbic Acid in Chicken. In edited journals have published 34 articles with 57 articles in non edited magazines and proceedings.
Professor Leo den Hartog
Born in The Netherlands 1955, completed studies of Animal Production at the Agricultural University in Wageningen specialising in Animal Husbandry, Animal Nutrition, Crop Production and Farm Economics in 1978.
Professor den Hartog completed his PhD on The effects of energy intake on development and reproduction of gilts and sows in 1984. He was chairman of five pig and poultry trade missions of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries in co-operation with various Dutch companies to Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, China, Bazil, Agrentina, Chile, Latin America and South Africa along with being a member of several scientific and industrial committees.
Professor Leo den Hartog is currently the Director of R & D and Quality Affairs with Nutreco and a part time Professor in Animal Production at the Wageningen University.
Professor Mingan Choct
Professor Mingan Choct’s main academic interest is in the area of carbohydrate chemistry, feed enzymes and monogastric nutrition; he has supervised more than 30 postgraduate students and published over 270 papers in journals and conference proceedings.
Mingan has a PhD in polysaccharide chemistry, worked as human nutritionist, and is the CEO of the Australian Poultry Cooperative Research Centre based at University of New England in Armidale. He is on the editorial board of several international journals (assistant editor of British Poultry Science, Poultry Science) and has been an invited keynote speaker at many national and international conferences and has extentive links with institutes and industries throughout the world.
Mingan is also a scientific advisor to the International Foundation for Science and the winner of The World’s Poultry Science Association Syd Wilkin’s Prize (1990), The Australian Animal Production Young Scientist Award (1991), The Australian Poultry Award (2004), the Alltech Biotechnology Global Medal of Excellence (2005) and the British Poultry Science Association Gordon Memorial Prize (2008 confirmed).
Mr. Russell Lyons
National Sales and Marketing Manager, Russell has nearly 30 years experience in the Australian stockfeed industry. Joining Ridley Agriproducts in 1996, Russell is responsible for the development and implementation of sales and marketing strategies across the company's major markets.
Session 2
Dr Derick Balnave
Dr Balnave graduated from The Queen’s University, Belfast with 1st Class Honours B.Sc, majoring in Chemistry in 1964 and subsequently completed a PhD degree in 1966 in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at the same university. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by The Queen’s University in 1983 in recognition of his published scientific work.
His initial appointment in 1966 was to the Animal Nutrition Research Division of the then Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland and in 1967 he was also appointed an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at The Queen’s University, Belfast. He held a Readership at the University and the position of Principal Scientific Officer in the Ministry by the time he took up a position with the New South Wales Department of Agriculture at Seven Hills, Sydney in 1977. He accepted an appointment at The University of Sydney in February 1978 and was Research Director of the Foundation until his retirement in 2001. He was also Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University, USA from 1995 to 2005.
Dr Balnave has published over 300 scientific articles, approximately 150 of these in peer-refereed journals. He supervised 30 postgraduate students and was the recipient of the 1998 World’s Poultry Science Association’s Australian Poultry Award.
Mr Greg Hargreave B.Sc.Agr., M.Bus
Greg Hargreave is the nutritionist for Baiada Poultry, the third largest broiler company in the Australian market. He is also the nutritionist for Pace Farms, the largest egg producer in Australia. He has worked in the stockfeed/livestock industries since 1976.
His qualifications include a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from The University of Sydney and a Master of Business in Finance and Economics from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.
His prime responsibilities are for the feed supply and nutritional feed programmes fro Baiada Poultry and Pace Farms. This includes all formulation work, deciding on appropriate livestock husbandry programmes (in conjunction with company livestock managers and veterinarians) and overseeing the raw material procurement and feed supply decisions. Feed output involves working with up to 12 mills, each producing from 2,000 to 20,000 tonnes per month.
The overriding focus of these responsibilities is to optimise broiler and egg production costs for all the company's livestock operations.
Dr. Ron MacAlpine
In 1972, Ron MacAlpine graduated from UNE (Bachelor of Rural Science, 1st Class Honours) and then completed his PhD at The University of Sydney in 1980. Ron's thesis was entitled: "Energy-protein interrelationships in broiler chicken nutrition".
Ron MacAlpine's name is synonymous with Inghams Enterprises where he has worked since 1972 and is now the National Nutrition Manager. In this position, Ron is responsible for overall management of feed ingredient supply and nutrition for Inham's operations in Australia and New Zealand. Inghams Nutrition Centre, located in Sydney, incorporates a feed analysis laboratory and advanced broiler feed testing facilities.
The nutrition team is primarily focussed on feed programs and performance of the company's poultry operations. Ron MacAlpine shares an active interest in industry research programs through membership of the Chicken Meat Committee of RIRDC and the Research and Development Committee of the Australian Poultry CRC. Most appropriately, Dr. MacAlpine was a recipient of the Australian Poultry Award in 2003.
Dr Wendy Muir
Wendy is currently a lecturer at the University of Sydney, where her research focus is on the avian immune system. Her research interests principally concern musocal immunity in the chicken, with a focus on the local intestinal immune system, its structure and function and opportunities for immunomodulation through vaccination, cytokine delivery, and more recently, nutritional manipulation.
Wendy achieved a BScAgr(Hons1), in 1988 and a PhD in avian intestinal immunity in 1996. Both degrees are from The University of Sydney. She continued to pursue her research interests, working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from 1996 -2001. In 2001 Wendy completed a GradDipEd from UNE and in 2002 she was appointed as a Lecturer in Animal Science at the University of Sydney, Camden Campus. From January 2002-July 2003 Wendy was also overseeing the day to day operations of the Poultry Research Unit. Her teaching responsibilities include immunology / animal health, poultry husbandry, animal science and junior microbiology.
Dr Peter Selle
Peter Selle graduated in Veterinary Science from Sydney University in 1967 and became a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1978. From 1970 to 1988, Peter worked for Bayer Animal Health in Australia followed by a secondment to Bayer Germany. In mid-1991, Peter returned to Australia and joined BASF Animal Nutrition where he became involved with the registration and local development of Natuphos(r) phytase.
Peter Selle completed his PhD at University of Sydney, Camden Campus Phytate and phytase: Consequences for protein and energy ulilisation by pigs and poultry under the supervision of Wayne Bryden in 2001. Since 2002, Peter has been involved with the Poultry Research Foundation as an Honorary Associate to the Veterinary Science Faculty.
Session 3
Professor Wayne Bryden
Wayne Bryden completed a Bachelor and Master of Rural Science at the University of New England and then undertook a PhD at the University of Sydney within the Poultry Research Unit at Camden under the guidance of Frank Annison, Derek Balnave and the late Charles Payne.
He subsequently joined the staff of the University of Sydney and rose to the rank of Associate Professor and was Director of the Poultry Research Foundation in 2001. He became an Honorary Governor of the Foundation in 2002. He is currently Professor of Animal Science at the University of Queensland, an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University, President of the Nutrition Society of Australia and a member of the WHO Expert Panel on Food Safety.
Professor Bryden has over 500 publications of which 200 appear in international journals or as book chapters and he has supervised some 50 postgraduate students. His current research interests include various aspects of monogastric nutrition, especially amino acid metabolism, and the relationship between diet and immunity. The interactions of feed toxicants, especially mycotoxins, in the feed chain is an ongoing research theme."
Dr David Witcombe
David completed a BAppSc in biotechnology at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 1991, while working part-time as a Scientific Officer with Genetic Technologies Corporation performing DNA profiling for forensic and paternity cases. He moved to Biotech Australia in 1994 as a Quality Assurance Officer for 12 months, before transferring to the Molecular Biology Research Division for the next three years. The focus of his work during this period was the development of vaccines against economically significant ectoparasites and nematode parasites of livestock and pets.
With the support of a RIRDC scholarship, David returned to UTS in 1998 to undertake his PhD, characterising an important vaccine candidate from the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria maxima, a causative agent of coccidiosis in chickens. He continued with the UTS Eimeria research group as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to lead the vaccine development team from 2002 to 2004, before accepting a research fellowship identifying and characterising novel drug and vaccine targets in the ruminant barber pole worm, Haemonchus contortus.
David has published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, is author of an international patent for a recombinant coccidiosis vaccine, and has presented his work regularly at national and international scientific meetings. In 2005, he moved to his current position as Research and Development Program Manager at the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL), a role that serves to establish, support and manage R&D projects for the direct benefit of the Australian egg industry.
Mr Jack Houweling
Jack Houweling was born in Holland and migrated to Sydney as a child in 1956 with his family where his parents became involved in both broiler and layer farms. Jack matriculated and joined Inghams at their Austral complex and then moved to the Tegel laboratory at Leppington as a technician where he remained until 1975. In 1975, Jack moved to the Badgerys Creek breeder complex operated by Consolidated Poultry Industries. In 1979, Jack travelled north to Queensland to become livestock production manager for Woodlands Enterprises at Beerwah. In 1982, Jack joined Darwalla Milling Company as the Operations Manager, currently he is the General Manager of the group.
Jack Houweling has been highly active with both PIX (appointed Vice President in 1997) and the Queensland Branch of the Worlds Poultry Science Association (appointed Treasurer in 1994). In 2002, Jack was presented with the Noel Milne Queensland Poultry Industry Award in recognition of his services to and his involvement in the poultry industry.
Dr Tim Walker
Tim Walker has enjoyed more than 30 years in the feed and integrated broiler industries in Australia and New Zealand. After completing bachelor and Ph.D degrees at the University of New England, Tim spent 4 years in commercial nutrition in New Zealand. Since 1978, Tim has been based in Sydney and has held several technical and commercial management positions with feed manufacturing and integrated broiler companies. Tim’s present position is with Bartter Enterprises where his focus is poultry nutrition and feed raw material supply.
Dr Ian Partridge
After completing a BSc degree at Newcastle, UK and MSc at Guelph, Canada, Ian worked for 14 years at the ARC Research Institute at Shinfield, Reading UK. He was awarded his PhD degree by Reading University in 1976. His research covered many aspects of pig nutrition including digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients; applied trials of feed additives and alternative protein sources; studies on nutrient requirements and diet composition for early weaned pigs and the evaluation of feedstuffs.
During these 14 years of swine nutrition research, Ian presented more than 60 scientific papers in refereed journals, at scientific meetings and in popular publications.
He joined Roche in the UK in 1986 and has had assignments with that company in Switzerland and Australia. During 1994-5 he was Manager of the Vitamins Division of Roche in Vietnam. He then returned to Sydney, where for 10 years he managed the DSM Nutritional Products business (formerly Roche Vitamins) for Australia and New Zealand. From 2000 to 2005 he served as President of the Poultry Research Foundation at the University of Sydney.
In 2005 he was appointed DSM’s Director of New Business Development for Asia Pacific and in this role he is currently based in Singapore.
Session 4
Dr Tom Scott
Tom is a Canadian (rural Saskatchewan) and is currently Director of Research – Poultry for Provimi and is located in Brussels at Provimi’s Research and Innovation Centre.
Provimi maintains research in poultry at eight locations world-wide with a focus on complete feeds and feed supplements. Prior to starting with Provimi (January, 2007) he was the Chair in Poultry Science (and Director of the Poultry Research Foundation) of the University of Sydney maintaining a teaching and research programme based in Camden. Tom likes Australia!
Having received his PhD from the University of Sydney and then returning to hold a research fellowship with USyd with support from the NSW Egg Corporation. He has also being a research scientist (14 yrs) with the Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada working in research centres located in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
Research interests are related to poultry nutrition and physiology, with a focus on the use of bioassays to facilitate this research. Poultry, poultry science and its industry have been his sole working focus. He maintains and repeats to those who will listen – “chooks have been good to me!”
Dr Vivien Kite
Deputy Director, ACMF, and Research Manager, Chicken Meat Program of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC)
After completing her PhD on the behaviour of meat breeder hens, under the supervision of Associate Professors Rob Cumming and Monica Wodzicka-Tomaszewska at the University of New England, Dr Kite took up a post-doctoral research position at the then Poultry Research Centre (now the Roslin Institute) in the UK, working with Dr Ian Duncan on a Commission of the European Community funded animal welfare research program grant studying transportation stress in meat chickens, and developing methods for measuring motivation in chickens.
Upon returning to Australia in 2007, Vivien took something of a career change, making her first move into the world of agri-politics in taking up a position with the NSW Farmers’ Association, where she was responsible for looking after the interests of the egg industry, and for managing the Association’s interests in the areas of animal welfare and research.
Two years later, she took up the position of Assistant Executive Director and R&D Manager with the Australian Poultry Industries Association. She has remained with the industry organisation for the ensuing 18 years.
She currently Deputy Director of the Australian Chicken Meat Federation (Inc) and Australian Poultry Industries Association, as well as holding the positions of Research Manager of the Chicken Meat Program of RIRDC, and Deputy Director of the Australian Poultry CRC.
Emeritus Professor David Fraser
Born in New Zealand. Graduated in Veterinary Science from the University of Sydney in 1962. Graduated PhD in 1967 from the University of Cambridge in nutritional biochemistry. From 1967 until 1986 was employed on the scientific staff of the British Medical Research Council in Cambridge, specialising in micronutrient nutrition and on vitamin D metabolism and function, in particular. In 1986 appointed to the second chair of Animal Husbandry (later Animal Science) at the University of Sydney. Research activities in Sydney have roamed widely on calcium homeostasis, bone development and vitamin D status in domestic animals and humans. Served as Director of the Poultry Research Foundation 1992-2000.
Dr Jeff Downing
Dr Jeff Downing is employed as a Lecturer providing instruction in to both Veterinary Science and Animal Veterinary Bioscience students. Having completed a Diploma of Agriculture from Wagga Agriculture College he joined CSIRO as a Technician. After some years at CSIRO, Jeff studied as an external student and was awarded a B.Sc. degree from Macquarie University, and then a PhD.
Initial employment at the University of Sydney was as a Research Fellow working on regulation of ovarian follicle development in broiler breeders. This was a continuation of work commenced at CSIRO. At this time other areas of interest were fat metabolism in broilers and evaluation of ways to increase the omega-3 fatty acid content of broiler meat. More recently, major research efforts have focused on stress physiology in laying hens. A important accomplishment has been the development of procedures to measure corticosterone in egg albumen as a non-invasive measure of stress in laying hens. Presently, Jeff is involved in evaluating physiological and feeding strategies to alleviate heat stress in broilers and development of growth models for Pekin ducks under Australian conditions.
Since 2003 Jeff has been employed as a lecturer in Animal science providing instruction in areas of poultry and pig husbandry, artificial breeding, reproductive endocrinology and welfare.
Dr Peter Groves
Peter graduated in Veterinary Science in 1977 from the University of Sydney. After a couple of years in mixed practice Peter took up a research role with Pfizer Agricare at Bringelly.
In 1981 Peter joined Elanco Products Company as a research veterinarian and here became involved in poultry work, mainly involved with coccidiosis. The interest and hold of the poultry industry became quite strong and Peter joined Ingham’s Enterprises in 1985 as a field veterinarian in NSW.
In 1987 Peter moved to the growing Baiada Poultry operation as their Technical Services manager, maintaining that role until 2003. During this time Peter completed a PhD through the University of Sydney on the epidemiology of the broiler ascites syndrome (supervised by Dr Garry Cross).
A major focus during this time has been on Marek’s Disease which included strong collaborative research projects between Baiada and the University of New England with Dr Steve Walkden-Brown.
Since 2003 Peter has worked as a private veterinary consultant to the industry, primarily consulting to Baiada Poultry and also to some pharmaceutical companies and vaccine manufacturers. He operates a small poultry research unit in western Sydney.
Since 2005 Peter has provided teaching for veterinary science students in poultry health and poultry husbandry at the University of Sydney (Senior Lecturer) and Charles Sturt University (Adjunct Senior Lecturer). In 2007, Peter took on a role as acting director of the Poultry Research Foundation in a part time capacity.