Hans was born in Switzerland and emigrated to Canada in his late teens where he ran a dairy and crop farm for several years with his parents and brother before attaining a BSc (Agr) and MSc at the University of Guelph.  He then moved to Scotland, where he completed a PhD on the theoretical aspects of genomic selection in a joint project between Wageningen University and the University of Edinburgh.

He joined Agriculture Victoria in 2010 and since 2016 he has been Research Leader Computational Biology at Agriculture Victoria and holds a joint appointment with La Trobe University.  His expertise is in quantitative genetics and statistical genomics in animals and plants, specifically using genomic selection to improve economically important traits.

His work is focused around two main areas:

1. Genomic selection in cattle, sheep, wheat, pasture grasses, canola, safflower, and pulses; including computer modelling of long-term genetic gain and genetic diversity.
2. Use of whole-genome and exome sequences, as well as metabolomic and functional genomics data in genomic selection and causal mutation discovery.

In the DairyBio Animal Program Hans leads Project 1, which aims to increase the persistence of genomic breeding values across breeds and across generations. He is also involved in the DairyBio Forage Program 1, which applies genomic selection to pasture grasses.

Hans has published more than 75 peer-reviewed publications with more than 5100 citations. Hans chairs the Steering Committee for the 1000 Bull Genomes Project for which his team received the Agriculture Victoria Award for Scientific Technical Excellence and he is a member of the Steering Committee for the Bovine Pan Genome Project.