Press release

Urmond, NL, 19 May 2015 13:45 CEST

For his impressive career in the field of sustainable swine nutrition research and for nurturing future talent in animal nutrition

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, today announced the winner of the DSM Nutritional Sciences Award 2015. Professor Dr. Hans H. Stein, from the University of Illinois (USA), has received the award in recognition of his outstanding research in swine nutrition, specifically helping to optimize the digestibility of nutrients contributing to sustainable food production.

The DSM Nutritional Sciences Award is part of DSM’s Bright Science Awards Program. DSM is deeply committed to promoting pioneering scientific research that leads to products or applications that enhance people’s quality of life. The DSM Nutritional Sciences Award is granted in recognition of outstanding contributions to innovative research in the field of human and animal nutrition by established scientists anywhere in the world.

In the field of animal nutrition, the award is granted to scientific work that has significantly contributed to improving animal nutrition and health through innovative concepts and more sustainable animal farming. The theme for the 2015 award is Optimum Swine Nutrition for Sustainable Food Production.

An international judging committee, chaired by Dr. Georg Kau, Vice President Research & Development at DSM Nutritional Products, selected Professor Hans H. Stein from the candidates proposed via a public call for nominations. Professor Stein received the award – which carries a cash prize of €50,000 – from Dr. Kau at the 13th International Symposium on Digestive Physiology of Pigs, Kliczków, Poland, on 19 May.

A nutritional scientist highly respected by his peers and by his students

Professor Hans H. Stein has a broad understanding of animal nutrition, the pig industry, and the challenges of producing food for the growing world population. In particular, his research towards accurately determining amino acid requirements and optimizing calcium/phosphorous supply for growing pigs helps  reduce the excretion of undigested feed components (which are potentially harmful to the environment), and thus greatly contributes to the improvement of sustainable swine farming.

He is also an inspiring teacher, who has trained a great number of next generation scientists – many of whom have already become leaders in the field in their own right – and he enjoys a high reputation and respect among his peers across the globe.

Recently, Professor  Stein was invited to join the prestigious committee in charge of writing the 11th Edition of the National Research Council’s publication on Nutrient Requirements of Swine, which is further proof of his intellectual leadership within the field. He has received many awards to date, from both scientific and industry groups, for example, the 2010 American Feed Industry Association Award in Non-Ruminant Nutrition Research from the American Society of Animal Sciences.

DSM’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Marcel Wubbolts: “By 2050, there will be over 9 billion people living on our planet. The amount of arable land per capita is decreasing, whereas rising standards of living tend to coincide with a shift of diets to higher protein consumption. If this increase in animal protein production is not managed in a sustainable way, this increase can take a serious toll on the environment. This means that availability of and access to good quality nutrition – one of the cornerstones of good health – is going to be critical and so will be the need for ongoing innovations that can enhance effectiveness, animal wellbeing and environmental sustainability of livestock farming. The issue of sustainability is an ever pertinent one, and research, such as that of Professor Stein, is paving the way for sustainability, not only in terms of current research, but also teaching, and helping next generation scientists to flourish in this field.”

Impressive scientific career

Professor Stein completed his undergraduate studies in Animal Science at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark, and received his Ph.D. in Non-Ruminant Nutrition from the University of Illinois. In 2000, he started his academic career as an Assistant Professor at South Dakota State University, and was soon awarded Teacher-of-the-Year and promoted to Associate Professor. Five years later, he was recruited to a research-extension position at the University of Illinois, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2011.

He has given 124 invited presentations at meetings and scientific conferences over the last five years. He has published 145 peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as a number of research abstracts, conference proceedings and book chapters. These papers are widely cited in the international swine nutrition research community.

Professor Stein’s reaction to receiving the DSM 2015 Nutritional Sciences award was enthusiastic; “I’m honored to receive such an award! And I’m excited about the potential that all our future research and future scientists have in regard to sustainable food production and all aspects of animal nutrition.”

He continued, “I’m very proud to be affiliated to a company such as DSM, that really recognizes the value and impact that science and research has in terms of benefiting society and the necessity of safeguarding our environment.”