Chris Barnes is a Senior Project Officer. He manages the product reviews that are done outside of CHOICE with external labs or data sources. This includes solar panels, electric heaters, air purifiers and detergents. Chris also manages our testing services through our commercial arm, Test Research, and he is CHOICE’s NATA authorised representative for our lab’s formal accreditations. Chris is involved with the standards committee for air conditioners. And he works with government and industry in areas such as product safety and regulation. In over 20 years at CHOICE, Chris has managed lab teams for a wide range of products, including children’s products, kitchen appliances, laundry appliances, garden power tools and more. Chris has a Science degree from the University of Sydney. LinkedIn

James Thomson tests TVs, speakers, fitness bands and other household digital gadgets in the digital home team at CHOICE. He also tests outdoor products like pressure cleaners, line trimmers and pool cleaners. James has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, where he majored in computer science. Prior to CHOICE, James worked as a programmer and analyst at an insurance company for 20 years. James represents consumers on the Australian Standards committee for TE-021 – Energy performance for Audio/Video, Information and Communication Technology and Associated Equipment.