AFBI Director Receives Prestigious Award

Dr Sinclair Mayne of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) has been awarded the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers’ Princess Royal Award for outstanding services to the UK dairy industry.

Dr Mayne is Director of AFBI’s Sustainable Agri-Food Sciences Division. A graduate of agriculture in Queen’s University Belfast, he has devoted much of his career to grassland and milk production research. Dr Mayne initially worked at the Grassland Research Institute at North Wyke in Devon followed by the former Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland (ARINI) at Hillsborough, now part of AFBI. He was Head of AFBI’s Agriculture Branch from 2002 to 2009 and was subsequently Departmental Scientific Adviser in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2009 to 2013. He re-joined AFBI as Director of the Sustainable Agri-Food Sciences Division in March 2013.

Dr Mayne is well known across the dairy industry in the UK and Ireland and further afield. He has served as President of both the British Society of Animal Science and the British Grassland Society. Dr Mayne said, “I am really pleased and humbled to receive this award and acknowledge the support of many colleagues in ARINI and AFBI over the years. The UK dairy industry is very buoyant at present but it is important that we continue to innovate and improve efficiency through ongoing investment in research. I also firmly believe that greatest progress is made when researchers work closely with innovative farmers”.

As Director of AFBI’s Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Division, Dr Mayne has a particular focus on the challenge of increasing food production in an environmentally sustainable way. A unique feature of the division’s research programme is a complete supply chain approach, with large scale, integrated research programmes involving a wide range of scientific expertise from soil, plant, animal, veterinary, environmental, socio-economic and food sciences.
 

Notes to editors: 

AFBI carries out high quality technology research and development, statutory, analytical, and diagnostic testing functions for DARD and other Government departments, public bodies and commercial companies. 

AFBI's Vision is “Scientific excellence in Northern Ireland …  serving the world”.

All media enquiries to AFBI Press Office 

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