"Global Volatility and Poultry Industry Sustainability"

Invited Speakers

Dr. Aaron Cowieson - hails originally from Scotland, having read for his PhD at the University of Aberdeen, completing in 2001.  From 2001-2010, Prof. Cowieson worked for two major biotechnology businesses where his research focus was feed enzymes, ingredient quality and amino acid and mineral nutrition of poultry.  From 2010-2013 Prof. Cowieson was Associate Professor of Poultry Nutrition and Director of the Poultry Research Foundation within the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, Australia.  Currently Prof. Cowieson is Corporate Science Fellow at DSM Nutritional Products.  Prof. Cowieson has published more than 300 scientific articles including approximately 180 in peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Cowieson was the 2016 recipient of the Poultry Nutrition Research Award from the American Feed Industry Association and the 2019 recipient of the Life Mentor Award by the Poultry Science Association.  In addition to his role with DSM he is retained as Adjunct Professor of Animal Science at Purdue University in the United States.


Dr. Stuart Wilkinson - began his career working with The University of Sydney Poultry Research Foundation after completing his degree in Agricultural Science in 2000.  Stuart completed his Masters and PhD at The University of Sydney Faculty of Veterinary Science.  Prior to his current role with Feedworks, Stuart was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Poultry Research Foundation at The University of Sydney.  His research interests include calcium, phosphorus, phytate nutrition and dietary fatty acids. Stuart has been invited to speak at several international and local conferences, is an associate editor for the Journal of Animal Production Science and is the Vice-President of the Australasian Pig Science Association.  His role at Feedworks involves providing consulting and technical support to the pig and poultry industries and Stuart continues to be active in research and post-graduate teaching.


Rick Kleyn -  the founder of the Spesfeed Consulting in South Africa, has an MSc in poultry nutrition from the University of Natal and has subsequently concentrated on poultry nutrition and feeding systems. In addition, he has had experience of the animal feed industry; particularly with regards least cost feed formulation software.


Prof. Martin Zuidhof - was the first in the world to develop a transformative precision feeding system to control individual feed intake in group-housed chickens. Over the last 10 years, his research team has been able to consistently achieve very high flock uniformity (coefficient of variation for body weight less than 2%). The system is also proving to be an excellent way to remove confounding body weight variation from experiments so as to better elucidate physiological and metabolic mechanisms that contribute to reproductive success in poultry. 

In addition to its practical commercial potential, the precision feeding system facilitates high quality research with free-run birds, directly addressing the societal issue of animal confinement.


Dr. Wendy Muir - Following the completion of her PhD in immunisation of poultry against Salmonella typhimurium, Wendy continued with research into avian immunity, especially the mucosal immune system of chickens. Wendy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney which in addition to research includes teaching and learning in poultry husbandry, immunology and animal health and disease. Wendy also coordinates the hons program for final year students majoring in Animal and Veterinary Bioscience.  Wendy's research interests include improving mobility in fast growing meat chickens, exploring the influence of nutrition on muscle development, avian immunology/vaccination, and more recently bird management when extending the laying cycle in commercial egg laying hens.  


Dr. Peter Chrystal - completed his Bachelor of Science in South Africa under Professor Rob Gous in 1982 and has recently completed a PhD in poultry nutrition at the University of Sydney with Dr Sonia Liu and Dr Peter Selle, investigating reduced protein diets in broiler chickens.
Peter has extensive commercial experience in both monogastric feeds and vitamin and trace mineral premix manufacture.  He has worked as a nutritionist for the largest poultry integrators in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. He is currently working as a monogastric nutrition consultant and broiler/pig financial modelling expert for Complete Feed Solutions and is based in Sydney. He has presented at a number of conferences around the globe and been both author and co-author of several peer reviewed publications.  


Prof. Bob Swick - is a native of Illinois and is currently consulting in the area of animal feeding and nutrition in Armidale, NSW, Australia. Prior to this Bob held positions at Poultry Hub Australia and was Industry Professor of Poultry Nutrition at University of New England - Australia. Bob has extensive knowledge of the feed industry in Asia Pacific from 20 years working in Singapore for Novus International, the American Soybean Association and consultancies. Bob holds a B.S. degree in Biology, M.S. in Animal Nutrition and Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition and Toxicology from Oregon State University. He began his career in the Nutrition Chemicals Division of Monsanto Company in the US. Bob has written over 300 technical papers, bulletins, reports and journal articles and holds a patent on a novel grain preservation system.


Prof. Tom Porter - received his PhD in Animal Physiology from the University of Minnesota in 1988. He conducted research as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology at the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1993, he joined the Department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor, and in 1997, he was recruited to the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland, where he was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor and Professor. He served two terms as Chair of the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland. Dr Porter served for six years as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Poultry Science, and he was named Fellow of the Poultry Science Association in 2016 and he is currently the President of the Poultry Science Association. 
Dr. Porter’s research interests center on molecular and cellular endocrinology in poultry.  One major focus of his research over the past 28 years has been on the mechanisms controlling cellular differentiation within the anterior pituitary gland during chick embryonic development.  The overall goal of this research is to improve growth characteristics in broiler chickens through an increased understanding of the regulation of the bird’s own growth hormone production.  A second major focus in Dr. Porter’s laboratory has included genome-wide analysis of gene expression in the neuroendocrine system.  The long-term goal of this research is to increase our understanding of global patterns of gene expression in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland and to identify the genes and gene networks controlling growth rate, body composition and feed intake in broiler chickens.  Dr. Porter is the author of 112 refereed scientific papers, 23 book chapters or reviews, and 162 abstracts.  His publications have been cited more than 3,500 times.