Professor Julius Van der Werf
Professor in Animal Genetics - School of Environmental and Rural Science
Biography
Julius van der Werf holds an MSc and PhD from Wageningen University, The Netherlands and studied at Cornell University in New York. He started as Assistant Professor in Wageningen from 1985 to 1993, Senior Researcher in dairy cattle breeding at the National Institute for Animal Science and Health between 1993 and 1997. In 1997, he moved to Armidale, first as Senior Lecturer and now as Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics at the University of New England. Julius specialises in research into genetic evaluation, breeding program design, breeding objectives and genomic selection. He has supervised more than 60 PhD students. He was manager of the Sheep CRC genetics program from 2003-2019, during which genomic selection was implemented in the Australian Sheep Industry. Julius has been a member of several industry advisor committees and was on the panel of experts of the Australian Research Council (2019-2021). He was also Editor of leading journals such as Genetics, Selection and Evolution journal and the Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics.
Employment History
- Jan '07 - Present: Professor, Animal Genetics, UNE, Armidale, Australia.
- Jan '02 - Dec '06: Associate Professor Animal Genetics, UNE, Armidale.
- Jan '97 - Dec '01: Senior Lecturer Animal Genetics, UNE, Armidale.
- Apr '93 - Dec '96: Sr Research Scientist, ID-DLO Inst. Animal Science and Health, Netherlands.
- Dec '85 - Mar '93: Assistant Professor, Wageningen Agric. Univ., the Netherlands.
Teaching Experience
- Graduate and postgraduate courses in Animal Genetics, Genetic Evaluation Design of Breeding Programs. Wageningen Agricultural Univ. (1986-1993) and University of New England (1997-current).
- Supervision of postgraduate students, Wageningen Agricultural University (1986-1996) and UNE (1997-2004): 41 MSc and 43 PhD students.
- International Postgraduate Courses delivered in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands.
Scientific Committees and Roles
- 1999- - Genetics Committee of the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme
- 2001 - 2006 Program Manager CRC for Beef Quality
- 2002 - - Program Manager (Genetics) Sheep CRC
- 2002 - - co- Editor in Chief of Genetics, Selection and Evolution (INRA, France)
- 2003 - - Associate Editor Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics (Blackwell)
- 2005 - 2007 President of the Assoc. Adv. Animal Breeding & Genet. (Australasia)
- 2006 - 2011 Editorial Board of Livestock Science (Elsevier)
- 2005 - - Technical Committee Sheep Genetics (MLA/AWI)
