Dr. Yoshikiyo Sakakibara is Executive Director of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) and Director-General of the Institute of Food Research, NARO (NFRI). NFRI conducts a wide range of research and development activities in food processing and distribution, quality evaluation, food safety, functional foods, and biotechnology. As a central hub for food research in Japan, it is committed to contributing to the advancement of the food industry and to enriching people’s lives through the social implementation of research outcomes.

Dr. Sakakibara joined NFRI in 1992. After earning his doctorate through research on environmental stress tolerance in rice, he was engaged in the planning and management of research support programs for the food industry at Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. He later served as a visiting scientist at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, USDA-ARS, where he advanced research on biomass utilization. Throughout his career, he has contributed to diverse fields including plant physiology, applied microbiology, fermentation technology, and research planning and management in food science.

He currently leads NFRI’s food research strategy and organizational management, promoting solution-oriented research and multidisciplinary collaboration to accelerate innovation and support the sustainable development of food systems.