Parag Acharya is leading the alternative protein-based food research and innovation at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich with 14 years of industrial R&D experience in food and biotechnology sectors. Since returning to academia in 2020, he has taken the helm of the Food Processing and Innovation research group and is leading several projects on product and process technologies for plant and algal proteins as well as hybrid alternative protein. At NRI, he has set up and is currently heading the Medway Food Innovation Centre, which includes a plant-based food accelerator programme engaging 100+ regional food businesses. He co-authored the UKRI report (2022) on alternative protein sector in the UK and is currently the PI at $30million Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein led by Imperial College, London. Being ex-Unilever, he delivered patented clean label technologies for brands like Knorr and Hellmann’s and championed several academia-industry collaborations.