Diána Bánáti - Biography#

Prof. Dr. Diána Bánáti is a Ministerial Commissioner for food safety and international scientific research cooperations, a Chief Scientific Advisor at the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development. She had been acting as Director General of the Central Food Research Institute (CFRI/KÉKI), Hungary since 2000. She continues her research career as a senior scientific advisor. She is an honorary professor at the Szent István University and the University of Szeged, Chair and Head of the Department of Food Regulatory Sciences and Consumer Studies, at the Corvinus University of Budapest and that of the Department of Food Sciences at the Szent István University Gödöllő, affiliated to the CFRI. With a twenty year long experience of teaching in higher education and professional training, she is a widely recognized professor on Food Safety, Food Policy, Food Regulatory Sciences and EU-studies.

She has substantial experience based on memberships in several international (European Food Safety Authority /EFSA/ Management Board, Chair; European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission /EGE/, International Academy of Food Science and Technology /IAFoST/, European Research Council and the Academy of Europe, etc.) and national scientific organisations (e.g. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Food Safety Committee), chairperson of a large number of international conferences.

She plays an active role in formulating national and international food policy. She was responsible for the establishment of the National Food Safety Office in Hungary in 2002 as a Ministerial Commissioner for Food Safety.

Prof. Bánáti is a qualified scientific expert on food safety, food policy, legislation and consumer sciences. She has a wide research experience in food sciences, her current studies focus on consumer science, risk perception, acceptance of novel technologies, food policy and agri-food ethics. She is extensively involved in national and international R&D programmes and EU research projects (FP6, FP7).

She is an author of several articles on food safety, consumer science, food ethics and risk management.