Dr Peter Parnell has made an outstanding contribution to research and application of genetic technologies in Australia.
Peter graduated from the University of New England in 1981 with a Bachelor of Rural Science with 2nd Class Honours. He went on to do a PhD at the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit under the supervision of Professor Stewart Barker and Dr Keith Hammond, completing his thesis in 1988.
From March 1985 to April 1995 Peter worked as a Senior Research Officer for the NSW DPI leading the research project into Feed Efficiency of high and low feed efficiency lines of Angus cattle. He established Net
Feed Efficiency as the measure of Feed Efficiency in these selection lines.
From April 1995 to April 1996 Peter was employed as the breed development officer of the Murray Grey Breed Society and introduced a scientific approach to this breed society.
From April 1996 to July 2001 Peter was the Breed Development Manager for Angus Australia during which he developed a very strong performance based ethos for the society.
From August 2001 until April 2009 Peter was the Centre Director of the NSW DPI Beef Industry Centre of Excellence based in Armidale. From July 2004 to April 2009 he was NSW DPI's Research Leader of Beef Genetics and Improvement.
During this time Peter played a key role in the design of the Maternal Productivity Project, which was a major program in the Co-operative Research Centre for Genetic Technologies in Beef Cattle.
He was also the leader of the very successful CRC Accelerated Adoption Project which utilised "Beef Profit Partnerships" (BPPs) across Australia and New Zealand. BPPs were a system of partnerships between beef businesses, value chains and the broader beef industry designed to accelerate improvements, innovations and adoption for sustainable and quantifiable impact on business profit.
From August 2003 until April 2009, Peter was an Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of New England.
Since May 2009 Peter has been the Chief Executive Officer of Angus Australia with a strong input into the applications of genetic technologies to the Australian cattle breeding industry.
Peter is currently a consultant to the Southern Beef Technologies Service (SBTS), which is a joint venture between Meat and Livestock Australia, ABRI and 15 temperate cattle breed societies aimed at increasing the understanding and use of genetic technologies by beef cattle seedstock and commercial breeders.
Peter has authored 25 refereed research publications including a number of papers presented to AAABG Conferences and has presented over 70 conference papers.
Peter has a passion for the application of innovation into the beef industry. He has excellent communication abilities, which have allowed him to translate research outcomes into readily useable on-farm applications.
For his outstanding contributions to the genetic improvement of the Australian beef herd, the Association for the Advancement of Animal Genetics and Breeding is pleased to enrol him as a Fellow of the Association.