Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, granted the Award to Dr Nys of INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in the field of poultry nutrition. In the course of a career spanning several decades, Dr Nys has pushed the frontiers of poultry nutrition science to develop several novel approaches to enhancing the quality of poultry products, such as poultry meat and eggs, which are a major source of relatively cheap and nutritious animal-derived proteins.

An international judging committee, chaired by Dr Georg Kau, Vice President Research & Development at DSM Nutritional Products, unanimously selected Dr Nys from among several candidates shortlisted by an international pre-selection committee. The award – which carries a cash prize of €50,000 – was presented to Dr Nys in the presence of a large audience at the 18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition 2011 in Cesme (Izmir), Turkey, on 2 November.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kau said: "With our Nutrition Award, we want to recognize and reward exceptional contributions to the advancement of science in the fields of human and animal nutrition. As a science-based company and leading producer of products in the field of animal nutrition & health, we are convinced that scientific research will always play a crucial role in providing innovative solutions to the many challenges we face today, such as ensuring food and nutrition security for the world's rapidly growing population. We are very pleased to honor here today one of the world’s most outstanding scientists working in the field of poultry nutrition."

According to the judging committee, Dr Nys has made a major contribution to the world's understanding of the role of nutrition in improving the quality of poultry products: 'His research has resulted in an impressive record of scientific publications, almost all dedicated to poultry nutrition and physiology at a very deep experimental and analytical level. His publications –– positioned at the interface of nutrition, physiology and molecular biology – have provided new insights into the mineral metabolism of poultry and egg quality.'

Major name in poultry nutrition research

Dr Nys studied general agronomy and received his PhD in animal nutrition from University Paris 6. With the exception of several research assignments at various European and Canadian universities, he has spent most of his working life at the Tours (France) branch of INRA, a unique institution entirely dedicated to poultry research, of which Dr Nys was a director from 2002 to 2007. He is currently Director of Research at INRA.

A physiologist and nutritionist, Dr Nys specialises in the study of the poultry egg in terms of its formation, structure and quality as well as its natural defences. In the course of several decades of research activity, he has also addressed topics such as the mineral metabolism of poultry, the fabric of the eggshell, the nutrition and physiology of laying hens, the assessment of feedstuffs for their specific utility in birds’ feeding, and the development of sustainable ways of poultry production with a lower impact on the environment. Dr Nys has a broad network of scientific collaborations across the world and has (co-)organized scientific conferences, most recently the European Poultry Conference in Tours (France) in 2010, of which he was chairman. Dr Nys enjoys a very high reputation among peers and his scientific publications are widely cited in the international poultry nutrition research community. He has published more than 180 scientific papers, book chapters and review articles and has edited three books. Recently, he received the title of Doctor honoris causa from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine at Lasi in Romania.

Dr Nys is currently President of the European Federation of WPSA, the World Poultry Science Association.

On receiving the award, Dr Nys said: "I am very pleased and deeply honoured to receive the DSM Nutrition Award 2011 as recognition of the energy and passion I have devoted to poultry science for more than 30 years. I have been allowed to explore poultry nutrition and hen metabolism at INRA, where I can rely on both exceptional human support and quality research facilities. I am also proud I could convince my colleagues to join international academic and industrial networks and to use the bird model to investigate multidisciplinary approaches in order to support the development of the poultry sector."