Poultry CRC chief executive, Professor Mingan Choct, accepted the award at the final session of the 2008 World's Poultry Congress in Brisbane today.

"This is a very satisfying award to receive, particularly at this point in the CRC's lifecycle, with a lot of people working very hard in the last five years to achieve practical outcomes for the Australian poultry industries," Professor Choct said.

Established in 2003, the Armidale-based Poultry CRC involves researchers, educators and support staff from 23 participating organisations.

The Centre's wide-ranging research programs, which focus on sustainability for the egg and chicken meat industries, make it a stand out contributor to world poultry research.

For example, in 2007 a Poultry CRC PhD student overturned a 30-year dogma that alpha-toxin caused necrotic enteritis, a disease that costs the global poultry industries an estimated $US 2 billion annually.

"It is great to see the Poultry CRC receiving this level of international recognition," said Bob Ingham, owner of Inghams Enterprises, Australia's largest chicken meat producer.

"We saw great benefit in having an organisation like the CRC and that's why Inghams has been with the Poultry CRC from day one."

Science Minister Senator Kim Carr said the CRC's achievements included reducing the risk of disease, reducing mortality and improving feed conversion.

"I think it is essential that we have innovation programs that can solve the widest range of problems," Senator Carr said.