Dr Chris Downs is the Founding Director of FaBA. As a leader at the interface between science and industry, he oversees the development and delivery of innovations that add value to the food and beverage sector and global consumers.
He has more than 30 years’ experience in the agrifood industry as a scientist, innovation leader and executive with a focus on science and innovations that support the development of crops, foods and beverages that are healthy, safe and sustainably produced.
Dr Downs is a leader and translator of science and innovation projects in the food and beverage industry, and passionate about seeing researchers adding value and impacting the sector.
He also brings a global leadership perspective on the science of food to improve the global food system. He is a past President of IFT (Institute of Food Technologists), USA, which has more than 12,000 industry, government and research members from around the world.
Prior to joining FaBA, Dr Downs was General Manager, Crop and Food Science at the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. He has also worked as the Research Director (Food Innovation) for CSIRO and was a member of the CSIRO Agriculture and Food Executive.