Experience
Dr Parag Acharya with 14 years of industrial food R&D experience, is leading alternative protein-based food research and innovation at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Since joining NRI in 2020, he has taken the helm of the research group focusing on food processing and innovation as well as led the establishment of the Medway Food Innovation Centre equipped with cutting-edge facilities to foster sustainable food technologies. Led by Parag, MFIC has already positioned itself as a key player in the UK for alternative protein research and innovation. It is also playing a key role in $30m Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein led by Imperial College, London where Parag is co-leading the Plant Pillar platform.
Besides, Parag is also the innovation growth manager for Growing Kent and Medway (GKM) agri-food cluster (http://www.growingkentandmedway.com) funded by £17.8 million UKRI Strength in Places grant. As part of the GKM team, he co-authored UKRI report (2022) Alternative Proteins: Identifying UK Priorities (Alternative Proteins Roadmap: identifying UK priorities – UKRI) and is also leading the GKM Alternative Protein Research Network.
Parag is highly skilled in building multi-disciplinary collaborations. He has initiated contacts with StartLife in Wageningen, GROW in Singapore, and Swiss Food Valley to leverage their experiences in setting up a framework for the plant-based food accelerator programme in the Medway campus. This accelerator programme has, so far, brought a significant knowledge exchange impact by delivering business mentoring and technical support to 100+ regional food companies, facilitated 18 new product launches, and helped 12 businesses to successfully apply for further R&D funding.
Since 2021, Parag has also brought a significant research funding (see below) to deliver the scientific unlock on how to innovate climate-smart food utilising sustainable protein sources (e.g. currently leading projects on alternative proteins from under-utilized legumes, algae, agri-food side-streams like spent grain etc.) by connecting domains of ingredient research, novel processing, clean label formulation (e.g. how to replace additives with natural alternatives), and taste & flavour technologies. He is also co-supervisor for a collaborative PhD project (with University of Aberystwyth) on RuBisCO protein funded by the UKRI Food system CDT.
Parag has been appointed as steering committee member of BBSRC Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC), selected as member of BBSRC Pool of Experts (2023-2026) and was part of Algae-UK organizing committee for developing the Roadmap for Algae in UK diets. He is the steering committee member of the UK-Kenya Alternative Proteins Network (2024). Parag had also featured in Good Food Institute (GFI) website (Meet the researcher: Parag Acharya on building a one stop shop for sustainable proteins - GFI Europe) and was mentioned in the GFI Europe report among top UK researchers in the field of alternative protein (Sustainable proteins in the UK – an ecosystem report (gfieurope.org))
Before joining NRI, Parag had been working for Unilever Food R&D in Netherlands (2011-2020) with a proven track record of successfully delivering patented technologies (lead inventor of 4 patents: WO 2020099180, WO 2017140439 A1, WO 2017001154 A1 and WO 2013189709 A1). He led strategic open innovation partnerships as well as championed several industry-academia collaborations funded by EU FP-7 ITN, TKI-Agri Food, BBSRC-CTPs etc. His pioneering research at Unilever also delivered scientific insights on the causative chemistry of culinary flavour generation by unravelling how aroma generation can be controlled by the optimal processing of plant-based food.
