Brett’s arrival on Burns night and his Scottish heritage was marked by presenting him with a bottle of something the Bard would appreciate. l. to r. Prof. Herve Migaud (Director of Research, IoA), Prof. Ian Simpson (Head of the School of Natural Sciences), Prof. Malcolm McLeod (Deputy Principal and acting Director of IoA), Prof. Brett Glencross (Professor of Nutrition, IoA), Prof. Douglas Tocher (Professor of Molecular Nutrition, IoA) and James Dick (Technical Manager, Nutrition Analytical Service, IoA)

Stirling’s nutrition addition

Stirling University’s Institute of Aquaculture has recently been strengthened by the arrival of Brett Glencross, a former Technical Manager at the Aqua-Feed Division of Ridley, as its new Professor of Nutrition.

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Haivng been in the position for just over a month, he told Fish Farming Expert: "I'm really happy to be here and look forward to being able to explore the UK and Europe with my family. I'm keen to work closely with industry given my commercial/industrial background (my previous role was as Technical Manager for Ridley Aquafeeds in Australia, the largest supplier of salmon feeds in that market), but also excited by the opportunity to venture into some real frontier basic science to underpin those future industrial innovations."

With his wide-ranging knowledge of bioenergetics, fatty acid and amino acid metabolism, raw material development and evaluation, and feed processing technology, Professor Glencross will greatly expand the range of the Nutrition Group in Stirling, building on its existing world-leading expertise in lipids and fatty acids, especially omega-3 nutrition and metabolism.

Furthermore, the appointment of Professor Glencross will extend the reach of the Nutrition Group into shrimp farming and other Asian aquaculture sectors, complementing its current strength in salmonid farming, UK and European aquaculture.

Professor Ian Simpson, Head of the School of Natural Sciences, said: “Professor Glencross comes to the University of Stirling with an outstanding track record of working with industry and carrying out innovative research that has developed the knowledge and understanding to solve commercial problems, and so his appointment demonstrates the University’s commitment to supporting research with impact”.

Prior to joining Ridley, Australia’s largest provider of animal nutrition solutions and products, he was the Senior Principal Research Scientist for Aquaculture Feed Technologies research within the Aquaculture Research Program of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia from 2009 to 2015. He has Honours and Masters Degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia and a PhD in Animal Nutrition from the University of Queensland.

Over the past 20 years he has worked in Australia, China, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, France, Canada and Scotland. He has led two major international development (aid) projects from 2002 to 2015 in Vietnam and Cambodia. He has also worked closely with several major international aquaculture feed companies throughout Australia, Asia and Europe. He is one of the editors of the journal Aquaculture Nutrition, and is Deputy Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Society for Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF), and was Chair of the Organising Committee for the ISFNF 2014 Conference, held in Australia.

His research background spans the use of bioactives in feeds (eg the development and commercialisation of the Novacq™ technology), the development of functional feeds for animal health (eg mitigating SGS in salmon farming), refining knowledge on essential amino acid and fatty acid requirements in fish and shrimp, the use of nutritional modelling strategies (performance models that are now used by the Australian barramundi industry) and refining raw material evaluation (most notably leading to the broad adoption of lupin, canola and soybean meals and canola oils by the Australian aquaculture feed sector). As the scientist that led the development and commercialisation of Novacq™ at CSIRO he and his team were awarded that organisation’s prestigious Impact from Science Medal. In recognition of his contributions to the Australian prawn and barramundi farming sectors Brett was also awarded the Industry Research and Innovation Award in 2012.