Rob Hamer Email & Phone Number

Rob Hamer graduated in (bio-)chemistry from the State University of Utrecht in 1981, and obtained a PhD degree in medicine (1986) from the same university. He started his career as a food chemist at the TNO Cereals, Flour and Bread Institute, became head of the department of Cereals and Chemistry (1987), head of the department of Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry of the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Zeist (1992) and head of the Biochemistry and Gene Technology Division (1994). In 1997 he was appointed as Director of the Structure and Functionality programme of the Technological Top Institute WCFS (now named TIFN). Here, Rob set up a group (80 staff) performing breakthrough research on food texture and taste perception. In addition, Rob Hamer is a part-time Professor in Technology of Cereal Proteins at Wageningen University (since 1999). In his career Rob Hamer has published over 150 articles in international journals, is the author and editor of several books, and received various prizes for his achievements in cereal science. Rob was founder and former president of the European section of this organisation. Rob Hamer served as President of AACC International. Rob was the first European to serve in this function.In December 2009, Rob joined Unilever, responsible for Unilever’s global research activities in the area of Foods (ca 300 staff). In January 2012, Rob was also appointed head of lab (850 staff) and ‘bestuurder’ of Unilever R&D Vlaardingen b.v. In july 2018, Rob was appointed in his current role as VP Agrifood External Affairs. In this capacity Rob represents Unilever at various organisations in the Netherlands (ao. VNO-NCW, TKI AgriFood, TIFN) and Europe (ao. FoodNexus, ETP Food4Life) and sets up collaborations in the area of sustainable food production. Rob initiated the Sustainable Food Initiative, an open collaboration initiative in the area of sustainable food production.

Listed skills include Food Science, Food, Life Sciences, and Innovation Management.