Dr Piper was a Research Scientist and Research Manager with CSIRO for 42 years (1962 - 2004) and an Honorary Research Fellow for the following 18 years (2004-2022). He is now fully retired but retains strong interests in science especially developments in Genetics.

Dr Piper is an outstanding CSIRO scientist who has worked in the livestock industries for the past 40 years. His research has focussed on genetic improvement of productivity of grazing sheep and beef cattle populations and aquaculture species.

He was inaugural Director of the CRC for Premium Quality Wool, and in 1995 was awarded the Helen Newton Turner medal for outstanding contributions to the genetic improvement of Australian livestock. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics and is the author of 68 refereed publications, 11 book chapters and 130 conference papers.