Professor Emeritus Alan Bell

World-class science

A week before his agricultural science classes were due to begin at the University of Melbourne in 1965 young Alan Bell made a spur of the moment decision to accept an offer to study at UNE instead. The Gippsland farm boy, the first in his family to attend university, "let alone one a thousand miles away", was soon bundled up in the family car and heading for Armidale.

"I don't recall why I made that decision, perhaps it was the idea of getting away and seeing a different part of the world, but studying Rural Science at UNE was one of the best decisions I have ever made," now Emeritus Professor Bell says. "Looking back, it set me up in a way that perhaps a different degree might not have."

UNE was also young, but had garnered "quite a reputation". Ground-breaking Professor Bill McClymont was half-way in to his 21-year tenure as founding dean of the Rural Science faculty and espousing his new and inspiring theories about agricultural ecology. "The place was really humming and I felt privileged to take some of Bill's courses," Alan says.

Perhaps the experience of travelling so far from home also gave the dairy farmer's son a passport to the future.  For throughout his distinguished 50-year career in animal science Alan has worked on three continents - in Australia, the United States and Great Britain - at some of the world's most prestigious research institutions.

Graduating from UNE with honours in 1969, he began his career with the CSIRO Division of Animal Physiology at Prospect, working with esteemed sheep researcher George Alexander. "He was an excellent mentor and exemplar, who never lost his devotion to the industry," Alan says. "We were doing all sorts of intensive, lab-based research but once a year he insisted we go out and work on commercial properties. Our research goal was to reduce the number of lambs that died early in life, and it gave me valuable insights into the practical side of the wool and sheep-meat industries."

Within three years Alan was enjoying "a bit of an adventure" undertaking his PhD studies at the Hannah Research Institute, affiliated with the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He then returned to Australia to lecture at La Trobe University for eight years, finding satisfaction in teaching and enjoying a one-year sabbatical in the Division of Perinatal Medicine at the University of Colorado. Taking up a coveted appointment at Cornell University in 1985, Alan furthered his international reputation for research on the nutritional physiology of pregnancy, lactation and growth in sheep and dairy cattle, and rose to become Department Chair of Animal Science - a post he held for a decade.

Although he'd grown up on a dairy farm, Alan hadn't seriously researched dairy cattle until arriving at Cornell. "It was a big department - 30 professors, 500 undergrads and some really, really big research programs," he says. "We had a research herd of 500 milkers and 400 other dairy cattle, a research beef herd, sheep, pigs and poultry. Agricultural extension was led by the university and we did a lot of RD&E that had impact, helped solve problems and make peoples' lives better."

But after spending more than half his working life abroad, Alan's homeland again beckoned in 2007 and he took up the demanding role of Chief of CSIRO Livestock Industries - an end-of-career chance to give something back to Australian agriculture. Two years before his retirement in 2012, he was seconded for a year to be Interim CEO of Food Science Australia and to establish a new CSIRO Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences. Colleagues say they admired Alan's capacity to unite competing research groups, egos and agendas with little “blood on the floor”.

"During my final contract with CSIRO I tried to make the division more outward-looking and willing to collaborate with universities, including UNE," Alan says. "We moved labs and co-located with university departments on university campuses on three of our five major sites and I was very pleased about that."

Serving on numerous national primary industries, food and nutrition, and animal welfare committees, as well as consultancy work and an adjunct professorship at the University of Queensland has kept Alan "out of mischief" in recent years. His colleagues and former students are unanimous in their praise for his authentic leadership, collaborative approach and commitment to mentoring throughout his career.

"I've always tried to demonstrate the behaviours I have expected, and to take advice from others, including junior colleagues," he says. "I think an effective leader is inclusive and empathetic, but I also put a lot of stock in loyalty."

He's written a history of animal science in Australia and, mindful of his own journey, a personal reflection on the "giants" who have influenced his own career. "I am very much aware of my roots and I think I have been lucky most of my life," Alan says. "It sounds high-minded, but we would all like to think that we can help to make things better for others during our working lives. You get a lot of satisfaction seeing research that you do translated into something useful.

"Animal science today is much more than just improving the way we feed and breed animals and enable them to provide food and fibre products for us. Farmers are custodians of much of the Australian landscape, and animal welfare and environmental stewardship is increasingly important. Providing appropriate research findings that help them to do that responsibly is critical.

"Life, not just animal science, is about adapting and responding to changed circumstances. Nothing stands still and there remains an enormous amount of research to do, as well as improving the adoption of the research we have already done. We have been pretty good at conducting world-beating research in Australia but we could do better at taking it to the end-user and making sure it works properly."

Congratulations Emeritus Professor Alan Bell, one of our 2020 UNE Distinguished Alumni Award winners.