Dr Heidi du Clou is an analytical chemist with global (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia) experience in sugar milling, sugar research, quality assurance and management within R&D and accredited/commercial laboratories across diverse sectors (sugarcane, biosecurity, food). Throughout her 13-year career within the sugarcane industry, she has been involved in and led a variety of successful adaptive and strategic research projects covering areas of milling efficiency, sugar quality, product diversification and value addition. As Manager Industry Services Operations, she is responsible for overseeing the delivery of SRA’s current near infrared (NIR), chemistry and pathology services to industry, improving and modernising these services and developing new service offerings for the sustainability and profitability of the sugarcane industry.