Eric Huttner
Eric was the Research Program Manager for Crop Improvement and Management at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). He was one of the centre’s Advisory Board members from 2014 to 2016.
Eric graduated as an agricultural scientist in Paris (France) and went on to complete a doctor degree in plant molecular genetics in 1986, undertaking its research at public research organisation INRA in Versailles (France), where he became a junior research scientist. Eric worked as a post-doc in Shanghai (China) in 1987-1988, before moving to Australia in 1990 to establish the Australian research laboratory of French seed company Limagrain, based at the ANU in Canberra.
The lab worked on molecular strategy for facilitating hybrid seed production, protecting plants against viruses, and manipulating DNA recombination in plants. Eric’s lab was part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Science (1991-1998). During those years, he established multiple research partnerships with Australian public science in Universities and CSIRO. Between 1998 and 2001, Eric was part of the management team of the French plant genomics research program Genoplante, a large public –private research partnership.
In 2001 Eric became the founding General Manager of Diversity Arrays Technology, a Canberra based start up company delivering genetic analysis services to plant scientists and plant breeders worldwide, and he managed the company for 11 years. He recently left the private sector to join the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, where he runs the Crop Improvement and Management research for development program. Eric’s expertise and interests are centred around agriculture and include the application of ambitious science to crop improvement, new businesses and cropping systems, and international development.
Eric was part of the Centre from 2014 to 2020