Dr. A. Jalaludeen has served as Director of Academics and Research of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, and Special Officer to the College of Avian Sciences and Management. He is known for his pioneering work in characterizing Kuttanad ducks. He was the plenary speaker of 6th World Water Fowl Conference held at Taiwan in 2017. He has developed linkages with State Institute of Rural Development, Assam, India in the refinement of backyard duck farming, which resulted in socio-economic empowerment of rural women and was appreciated by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, then President of India. He was invited by University of Brawijiya, Malang, Indonesia, in 2019 as Visiting Professor. As a teacher with 36 years of experience to his credit he has published many peer-reviewed research articles and has provided guidance to more than 45 post graduate and doctoral students in poultry science and allied subjects. He has also authored three books and four book chapters. He hasorganized many Seminars / Symposia, including International Conference on Water Fowls in India.Dr. R. Richard Churchil is working as Professor at the Directorate of Research, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai. He was graduated from Madras Veterinary College and pursued his doctoral degree at Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar. He received gold medals in post-graduation and Jawaharlal Nehru Award of ICAR for his doctoral research on development of transgenic spermatozoa. He worked as poultry breeding scientist in Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur for a decade before joining Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai. He has published 77 peer-reviewed research articles in high repute journals and has written seven book chapters. He was trained on ‘Transgenic animals’ at University of Nantes, France. He teaches Poultry Science to undergraduate students and Poultry Breeding and Biotechnology to post-graduate/doctoral students.Dr. Elisabeth Baéza is working as Professor at INRAE, Université de Tours. She has obtained a diploma of Engineer in Agronomy (ENSFA, Rennes, France), specialized in Animal Productions, and a Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from the University of Montpellier (France). She was recruited at INRAE Nouzilly Centre (France) in 1993 to work on waterfowl production and poultry meat quality. She has identified significant determinants of duck meat quality and the main factors influencing these parameters. She is a member of the World Poultry Science Association, and she has organized many congresses related to Poultry Meat Quality and Waterfowl Production. Dr. Baéza has more than 120 peer-reviewed research publications in national and international journals, and she has contributed to three book chapters. She was a co-author of a French book on duck production published in 2012. She teaches Poultry Meat Quality to undergraduate students. She is an associated editor for “INRAE Productions Animales” and “European Poultry Science” journals.
