Ino Curik is an internationally recognised professor of animal genetics at the Institute of Animal Science, Kaposvár Campus, with an additional affiliation at the University of Zagreb. He brings more than three decades of experience in conservation genomics, quantitative and population genetics, and the sustainable management of genetic diversity in domestic animals. In recognition of outstanding scientific achievements, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU). A major part of his scientific legacy lies in horse genetics. The co-discovery of the genetic mutation responsible for coat greying and melanoma in horses, published in Nature Genetics, represents a landmark contribution to the field. Subsequent work has substantially advanced the understanding of pigmentation, health, inbreeding, and population structure in horse breeds, particularly the Lipizzan horse, through the integration of genomic, pedigree, and historical data. With nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications, his work is especially influential in developing genomic methodologies for estimating inbreeding, inbreeding depression, and effective population size in livestock populations. Recent research extends to whole-genome and mitogenome analyses, with a growing focus on archaeogenetics, linking modern genomic data with ancient DNA to reconstruct domestication processes and long-term evolutionary dynamics. A defining achievement is leadership of the MendTheGap project (Smart Integration of Genetics with Sciences of the Past), ranked as the number one project in the Horizon 2020 Twinning call, which successfully bridged animal genetics with archaeology and established durable international research networks across Europe.