In the Netherlands Richard Harrison is a member of the Top Team Tuinbouw en Uitgangsmaterialen, as well as providing strategic oversight of several programme boards for large regional and national initiatives on behalf of Wageningen U&R.
Dr Harrison has a PhD in evolutionary systems biology. His research has always focussed at the intersection of molecular biology, statistical genetics and modelling. Outputs have included scientific knowledge, tools, techniques and products to underpin the sustainable development of the agricultural, horticultural and food industries, using both breeding and biotechnology solutions. His group were among the first to implement gene editing techniques in key horticultural crops and in fungi used for alternative protein production. Through collaborative work with industrial partners, he and his team have delivered disease resistance traits into multiple commercial breeding programmes, as well as having initiated new public-private breeding programmes funded by global partners.
