New Delhi: India will honour Canadian biochemist Joseph H. Hulse, one of the world's leading biotechnology experts, with a Padma Shri award here on Monday.

One of India's highest civilian marks of recognition, the Padma Shri to Hulse, a former vice-president of Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), comes at a time when the spectre of food crisis looms over the world.

Hulse, a former scientific advisor to the UN secretary general, has devoted his life to research on food, nutrition and food security and written many acclaimed scientific books and papers on the subject.

'We are very pleased to see such a prestigious award being conferred on a man whose illustrious career has been one devoted to mankind,' David Malone, Canada's high commissioner to India and president-elect of IDRC, said in a statement on Saturday.

Receiving accolades in India is not new to Hulse, who first visited the country in 1962 to offer Canadian cooperation in the establishment of the International Food Technology Training Centre, Mysore.

In the next 40 years, he travelled to India over 60 times for various projects.

In 2006, he was elected Fellow for Life of India's National Academy of Sciences.

Hulse is currently a visiting professor at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Tamil Nadu, besides his other academic positions.