Prof. Dr. Diana Banati

Institute of Food Engineering, University of Szeged

Prof. Dr. Diána Bánáti is a renowned professor with 20 years of experience in research and academia, specializing in food safety, food policy, food legislation, and consumer sciences.
Throughout her career, she has held prominent positions in Hungary, including serving as Director General of the Central Food Research Institute (CFRI/KÉKI) from 2000 to 2011. She has also worked as a Ministerial Representative responsible for food safety and international scientific research collaborations, as well as Chief Scientific Advisor at the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture.
Prof. Bánáti served at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), where she was Chair of the Management Board for two terms (2008–2012) and Vice-Chair (2006–2008). She is an active member of numerous international scientific organizations (e.g. FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius, EFFoST, OECD, European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies of the European Commission). She is also a member of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) and Academia Europaea. Additionally, she sits on the editorial boards of various scientific journals, including Acta Alimentaria, International Journal of Horticultural Science, and Food Science and Technology.
Prof. Bánáti is the author of 120 peer-reviewed publications, 43 book chapters, and more than 100 conference papers and abstracts related to food science—particularly food safety, food policy, food law, and consumer sciences. She has organized and chaired numerous international conferences (e.g. EFFoST, CEEFood) and has played active roles in national and international R&D programmes and EU research projects (FP6, FP7).
Between 2012 and 2018, she served as Executive and Scientific Director at ILSI Europe (International Life Sciences Institute Europe). She is currently serving as Vice-Dean at the University of Szeged.