Recipient of the 2017 IETS Pioneer Award: Prof. Dr. Heiner Niemann.

Heiner Niemann was born on 7th January 1953 in Münster, Westphalia, Germany. After completing obligatory military service, he began to studyVeterinaryMedicine at the Veterinary University Hannover in 1973. In 1978, Heiner Niemann graduated and started the experiments for his doctoral thesis at the Institute for Farm Animal Breeding and Behaviour (FAL) in Mariensee. Two years later, in 1980, he received his doctoral degree (Dr med. vet.), from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover for his thesis entitled ‘Fluorescence microscopic evaluation of the viability of early embryonic stages of rabbits and cattle by FDA [3060-Fluorescein-Diacetyl]and DAPI [4060-Diamidino-2-Phenylindol]-Test’. In 1984, he became a Veterinary specialist in reproductive medicine and in 2001 in molecular genetics and gene technology. Heiner finalised his habilitation thesis entitled ‘Biotechnological studies on preimplantation embryos from cattle and swine’ in 1984 and received the Venia legendi in reproductive medicine from the Veterinary University Hannover. Since then he has been a Faculty member of this University. He teaches general and specific aspects of animal breeding, holds clinical demonstrations about reproductive biotechnology and seminars within the PhD program. In parallel, he gives lectures and seminars within the PhD programs ‘Molecular Medicine’ and ‘Regenerative Sciences’ at the Medical University Hannover. Furthermore, he is a lecturer at the Christian Albrecht University Kiel (Germany) and at the University of Applied Sciences South Westphalia (Germany). He has been the supervisor for more than 85 dissertations (mainly Dr med. vet.), three diploma theses and three habilitations. In 1980, Heiner Niemann became a member of the scientific staff at the Institute for Farm Animal Breeding and Behaviour (FAL) in Mariensee, since 2008 he has been the Head of the Institute, now called Institute of Farm Animal Genetics of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI). The Institute advises the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on all aspects of farm animal genetics. In 1985–1986, he spent some months at the Veterinary College, Texas A&M University as a Visiting Professor. Since 1994, he has been an Adjunct Professor for Reproductive Biology at the Veterinary University Hannover. During 2004 to 2007, he was appointed as Adjunct Professor at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Furthermore, since 2008 Heiner has been a Faculty member and since 2016 Honorary Professor of the Medical University Hannover (MHH). Heiner stayed at the Institute in Mariensee despite receiving several offers for academic positions from all over the world, by the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University Copenhagen, Denmark (1998); the Monash University Melbourne, Australia (2001); the Faculty ofVeterinaryMedicine ofUtrechtUniversity, the Netherlands (2006), and the University of Adelaide, Australia (2007). Since 2007, he has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Advanced Technologies of Kinki University Wakayama, Japan. Heiner’s expertise to conduct, organise and lead research competitively has led to appointments in several national and international committees, including Arpac International (1987), WHO Expert Committee (Transgenic animals and safety of products thereof, 2007), EFSA (European FoodSafetyAuthority) expert committee (Safety of somatic cloning of animals and their products, GM animals, 2007/2008; 2009/2010). In 2007, 2010 and 2013 he was elected as Chairperson of the DGfZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Züchtungskunde, German Society for Animal Production) Advisory Board. This brief list shows that he became widely recognised, not only in Germany. He was able to successfully apply for competitive third-party and external funding from the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, GermanResearch Foundation), the EuropeanUnion (EU), the Federal government, animal breeding organisations and industry. In the Excellence in Science and Research Initiative from the DFG at the Medical University of Hannover, he participated in ‘Rebirth I and II’ (2006–2017). Recently, Heiner was granted financial support for a Reinhart Koselleck Project for innovative and high risk research (2016–2020). Heiner has published more than 600 articles, ,370 in international peer-reviewed journals of various research fields, more than 250 abstracts, and around 90 book contributions. Therefore, he is listed among the top ten most cited scientists in CSIRO PUBLISHING