Timothy Lefeber

Bioengineer Chemistry

While working on his PhD at the VUB in 2011, Timothy felt like he was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Barry Callebaut had asked him to research a better fermentation process for cacao beans in the Ivory Coast, Malaysia and Ghana.

After finishing his PhD, he was involved in various research projects at ILVO and in 2014 he transferred to Flanders’ FOOD.

Meanwhile, he has moved up from Project Manager to Research Manager at Flanders’ FOOD. He supports a team of program managers in making roadmaps that determine the long-term vision. He also coordinates the process from idea to project application within the contours of the strategic objective ‘Lead in Knowledge’.

Timothy strongly believes in the open innovation model and passionately provides guidance to companies and research groups in collaboration projects. Being a keen amateur chef, he looks back fondly on the time he spent at the cacao plantations. He can’t go a day without having fun.