Derek Stewart
Derek is the Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, a new £27M initiative at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) focussing on precision technologies for plant/crop production, and Co-Director of the National Alternative Plant Protein Centre, funded (£44M) by UKRI and industry, and (now honorary) Professor of Plant and Food Chemistry at Heriot Watt University. He has pursued a >35 year career in crop production, raw material composition and its relation to product quality, functionality, bioactivity and utility. Derek has significant experience of science discovery, translation and commercialisation projects at the international level and currently leads the JHI science in the area of transformative crop production systems for food and non-food applications.
SCAF has allowed for interdisciplinary discussions and activities around a wide range of food issues impacting on Scotland and beyond. Being able to link my specific areas of interest, food feedstocks and their journey through the production chain to the consumer, has benefitted from the broad discipline inputs and generated new perspectives and outcomes on foods.
Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre & Co-Director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre
The James Hutton Institute