Dr JF Hocquette graduated as an Engineer in Agronomy and received a MS degree in Animal Nutrition (University of. Paris VI), a MS and PhD in Endocrinology (University of Paris XI) and DSc in metabolism & meat science (University of Clermont-Ferrand). Since 1991, Dr Hocquette has been a research scientist at INRA (the French National Institute of Agricultural Research). He has developed an internationally recognized research program on Biochemistry and Genomics- seeking muscle biomarkers related to cattle growth and beef quality. Dr Hocquette has published 240 indexed papers: 195 papers describe original results in muscle biology and meat science in beef, pigs, poultry, rabbits and camels. Citation of his work evinces impact of his research (Google Scholar: 14,218 citations, h-index 62, WOS: 7,861 citations, h-index 47). Dr Hocquette is the co-inventor of a patent on a genomic marker for beef tenderness and a second patent related to growth in camels. He has secured almost $8 million in grants, and mentored 20 graduate students (9 Ph.D. and 11 M.S.) and 12 postdoctoral fellows/visiting scientists. He also teaches in various French universities and developed scientific collaborations/hosted scientists and students from the EU, Australia, USA, Japan, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Egypt. In 1999, Dr Hocquette was appointed as the Head of the “Muscle Growth and Metabolism Group” of the Herbivore Research Unit, and subsequently he was elevated in 2006 to become Director of this Unit (172 staff) at INRA until 2010. Being its Fellow, the French Meat Academy appointed Hocquette to assess the production of in vitro meat from cell culture, which is highly advertised. A global assurance quality scheme (MSA for Australian Meat Standards) has been developed in Australia to ensure beef palatability to consumers. Dr Hocquette demonstrated that it would be possible to manage a grading system in Europe similar to the MSA system (Animal, 7, 524–29). He is contributing to development of a European MSA-like meat grading system in collaboration with different French meat companies and with EU partners, as published following a joint PhD between France and Australia co-supervised by Dr Hocquette. This PhD received the first price of the French Society of Animal Sciences. Dr Hocquette was chair of an international meeting on Beef and Lamb carcass grading to underpin consumer satisfaction jointly organized by INRA and the Meat & Livestock Australia. It was agreed to establish a working group of current collaborating countries that would be open with respect to new partners. This work contributed to launch a new French brand for premium beef named OR ROUGE, and to set up the International Meat Research 3G Foundation (https://imr3gfoundation.org/) under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Dr Hocquette organized the first carcass grading training session in Europe in July 2019 with the Foundation. In 2014 and 2016, Dr Hocquette organized the French Meat R&D congress. He delivered two TEDx talks and more than 300 media interviews. Dr Hocquette is strongly involved in the activities of the European Association of Animal Production (EAAP), and was president of the EAAP Cattle Commission. He edited two EAAP books: “Indicators of milk and beef quality” (2005, 460p) and “Consumer attitudes to food quality products” (2013, 305p). He also published two books about the French beef chain (340 pages) and livestock systems for agroecology (320 pages). Dr Hocquette has been editor of BMC Genomics, and is currently associate editor of J Integr Agric and It J Anim Sci. He is also editor-in-chief of the French R&D Journal “Meat and Meat Products” (viandesetproduitscarnes.fr/) which is distributed to more than 6000 people. He evaluated 50 PhD, applications or international research projects in the field. Since 2013, he has been a scientific delegate for the French High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES) and evaluated about more than 50 French research laboratories. Dr Hocquette is an active member of the French-Chinese Center on beef production. He coordinated the translation in Chinese of the nutrition tables for ruminants in order to optimize cattle growth in China. He was invited several times to China to present his perspective on the future of beef production at international meetings in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017. In conclusion, Dr Hocquette’s contributions have created a long-lasting international impact on the animal growth and beef quality field through his scientific publications, talks at international conferences, teaching and mentoring of scholars, collaborative activities spanning continental boundaries, and by being speaker on hot research (genomics, beef quality) and social interest topics (“in vitro” meat) in the animal industry. For his academic research and industry contributions, Dr Hocquette has been honored in 2010 by the French Meat Academy and twice by the American Society of Animal Science. He will organize the EAAP meeting and the World Congress of Animal Science in Lyon in 2023.
