DPI researcher wins Premier’s Prize for Science & Engineering
28 Oct 2020
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Senior Principal Research Scientist, Dr David Hopkins has received one of the NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering in the category Innovation in Public Sector Science & Engineering.
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Chief Scientist Dr Phil Wright congratulated Dr Hopkins for the recognition of his extraordinary dedication and innovative research through the prestigious NSW Premier’s Prize.
“For 29 years David has worked for the NSW DPI at Cowra where he established the Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development to deliver substantial beneficial outcomes for the red meat industries and to the wider community of NSW,” Dr Wright said.
“David’s outstanding contribution and reputation in his field of meat science goes well beyond NSW to the National and International arena.
“David’s innovative research has focused on improving the consistency and quality of red meat.
Dr Wright said the significance of Dr Hopkins’ work is demonstrated through the lamb meat sector for example, which has undergone major changes in focus to provide consumer acceptable products of high quality.
“David’s research has significantly contributed to these changes and now the industry is worth in excess of $3.9 billion,” Dr Wright said.
The impact cannot be understated, with David’s deeper knowledge of meat quality and its structure this has resulted in supporting many practical innovations – for example VIASCAN®, New Generation Electrical Stimulation, SMARTSTRETCH™/ SMARTSHAPE™, amongst many technologies designed for objective carcass evaluation.
The quality of his work is exemplified by the requests to author internationally renowned books highly regarded in meat science.
Dr Hopkins has held appointments as an Associate Editor for three journals, been an Editorial Board Member of four journals and is the first Australian Editor in Chief of the international journal Meat Science.
He also holds academic positions in Australia and overseas and has supervised post-graduate students across the globe. His publication record includes more than 750 scientific journal papers, chapters and technical/extension papers, he has received over 9394 cites (Google Scholar) and a has a Google Scholar H-index of 51 and a Web of Science H-index of 39.
The NSW Premier's Prizes for Science & Engineering recognise research excellence and reward the State's best and brightest for cutting-edge work including that geneerates economic, environmental, health, social or technological benefits for New South Wales.
High res photos available, please email anne.brook@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Media contact: Anne Brook 0477 358 305
