Local Organising Committee

Prof. Dr. Diána Bánáti Hungary

Chair of the Conference

Following her graduation in Food Science and Technology (MSc) in Budapest, HU, Prof. Bánáti earned in rapid succession further university degrees (ML in Law, MA in Teaching, CSc, PhD). She became the youngest ever Director General of the internationally recognised Central Food Research Institute (2000-2011). In addition, she acted as a Ministerial Commissioner for food safety and international scientific research cooperation. In her impressively distinguished career, a particularly important landmark was her election to the prestigious functions of Vice-Chair and ‒ with her re-election ‒ of Chair of the Management Board of EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority (2006-2012). She was the Executive and Scientific Director of the International Life Sciences Institute, Europe (2012-2018).
Prof. Bánáti has also organised and chaired countless national and international conferences and was extensively involved in national and international R&D programmes and EU research projects. She has 373 publications with 1100˂ independent citations.
Diána Bánáti is elected Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) and elected member of Academia Europaea (AE). She is also member of several scientific advisory committees.
Currently she is Full Professor and the Rector’s Commissioner (agri-food) at the University of Szeged (HU). Furthermore, she is the Vice President of the Hungarian Society of Nutrition.

Dr. Balázs P. Szabó Hungary

Chair of the Local Organising Committee

(MSc, 2003; PhD, 2009; Dr. habil, 2022), head of the Institute of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged. Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Szeged Regional Committee, Technical Committee, Chairman of the Food Engineering Working Committee. Member of the Hungarian Origin Protection Council of the Ministry of Agriculture.
He has been teaching for more than 20 years. Teaching activities: Food Engineer BSc, Food Engineer MSc, Food Safety and Quality Engineer MSc, Nutrition MSc, Agricultural and Food Mechanical Engineer BSc, Erasmus courses. Main research interests: determination of grain hardness of cereals, agrophysical analyses, shredding of agricultural crops. Flour and pasta tests (rheology tests). Property tests, mechanical material tests: fracture mechanics tests, tensile tests, hardness measurement methods. Technological developments, product developments for plant-based products, functional products.
Leader of three research workshops: flour qualification methods, promotion of healthy nutrition in bakery products, shortening and bridging the storage technology time. Publications: 177; Cumulative impact factor (IF): 41.158; number of citations more than 200. Member of conference organising and/or scientific committees (e.g. ICOSTAF, ICOSTEE).

Prof. Dr. Antal Véha Hungary

(MSc, 1980; PhD in Agricultural Technical Science, 1987; Dr. habil, 2000), professor emeritus at the Institute of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged. Former dean of Faculty of Engineering of the University of Szeged. Public board member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He has been teaching for more than 40 years. Teaching activities: Food Engineer BSc, Food Engineer MSc, Food Safety and Quality Engineer MSc, Nutrition MSc, Agricultural and Food Mechanical Engineer BSc, Erasmus courses.
Main research interests: primarily the granulometric and energy-technological examination of heterodisperse systems (crops) of plant origin: Milling industry technologies, operations (technological processes of wheat milling, rye milling). Life processes of cereals and ground grains during storage, quality preservation technologies (drying, ventilation, etc.). Applicability tests of flours, determination of quality parameters. Product development of grain-based foods. Feed production operations (shredding, mixing, granulation, etc.), production and product development. Research aimed at optimizing the production of domestic paprika. Shredding of agricultural crops, examination of material-physical characteristics of crops. Granulometric examination of heterodisperse systems. Determination of grain hardness of cereals. Correlation study of the grain hardness of wheat and the quality indicators of their flours. Reduction of mycotoxin load in milled wheat lots.
Publications: 378; number of citations more than 300. Member of conference organising and/or scientific committees (e.g. ICOSTAF).

Dr. Ernő Gyimes Hungary

(MSc, 1993; PhD of Agriculture, 2004; Dr. habil, 2013), associate professor, University of Szeged, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Food Engineering. (Hungary, 1985).
The main research activity was related to product development for cereal-based foods and confectionery products, fine grinding of cereals and pseudo-cereals, modernisation of food processing technologies, functional and healthy food product development, alternative and organic food processing technologies. Evolution of natural antioxidants in certain raw materials during processing (chocolate), investigation of confectionery raw materials and products, development of food packaging, investigation of advanced food processing technologies (cold plasma, high intensity light, ultrasound). He has participated in 14 national and 4 international projects. (1995-2015). He has been not only a participant but also a project leader in several projects.
He is author or co-author of 224 scientific papers of which 43 are published in international and 49 national per-reviewed journals of Food Science and Technology (independent references: 237, H-index: 7). He has contributed to the development of the following learning materials - electronic and blended: Sport Nutrition, Food Packaging, Cocoa and health, Food processing principle.

Dr. Dóra Szepesi Bencsik Hungary

(MSc, 2012; PhD in Animal Science, 2018), full time college associate professor at University of Szeged, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Food Engineering.
From 2006, she was a student of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, then a PhD student and colleague. She obtained her PhD degree in 2020. She has been working at the Faculty of Engineering of University of Szeged since 2015, as a college associate professor since 2021.
Pedagogical activity: meat processing technologies, feed production technology, food toxicology, animal husbandry. She teaches these topics in both BSc and MSc courses (Food Engineer BSc, Mechanical Engineer in Agriculture and Food Industry BSc, Food Engineer MSc, Food Safety and Quality Engineering, Nutrition Science MSc) both in Hungarian and English, and food toxicology for PhD students.
Research activities: drinking water toxicology, meat industry innovations, alternative protein sources in food industry.

Dr. Erzsébet Illés Hungary

(MSc, 2001; PhD in Environmental chemistry, 2005), senior college professor at the Food Engineering Department, University of Szeged (Hungary, 2020).
Her main research activity is related to design and physico-chemical characterization of magnetic nanoparticles and their biomedical application (MRI, magnetic hyperthermia,in vitro hemocompatibility); environmental aqueous systems (soils, humic substances) and engineering, rheological and texture analysis and stability of various food colloids.
She is author of 82 scientific papers of which 45 are published in international per reviewed journals and 1 chapter in book focused on physico-chemical properties of aqueous colloids (magnetite nanoparticles, etc.) at various interfaces and their biomedical application (independent citation: 2600+, H-index: 24).
EI has presented her scientific results as posters and talks at more than 100 national and international conferences. She was the Secretary of the Organizing Committee of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS) Conference in Budapest in 2006. EI is the Technical Editor of the Journal of Food Investigations.
She was awarded with “Best Student of the Faculty” and “Award for Diploma Thesis” (2001), "Ronald Malcolm" International Award for Young Scientist by the International Humic Substance Society (Boston, 2002), 1st prize and Silver Medal of Academic Committee of Szeged HAS Branch (2005), „Elsevier Best Poster Prize” at ECIS conference (Sofia, 2013), “Best Poster” Public Award at CPBCI conference (2018).

Dr. Anita Vidács Hungary

(MSc, 2013; PhD in Biology, 2018), college associate professor at Institute of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged.
She studied Food Engineering. Her PhD focused on investigating the disinfectant and antimicrobial properties of essential oils suitable for application in the food industry.
She is author of 82 scientific papers of which 45 are published in international per reviewed journals and 1 chapter in book focused on physico-chemical properties of aqueous colloids (magnetite nanoparticles, etc.) at various interfaces and their biomedical application (independent citation: 2600+, H-index: 24).
She teaches basic, food, and industrial microbiology (both lecture and laboratory practice), food safety and hygiene in both Hungarian and English. Additionally, she coordinates the Food Science and Technology Engineering Master program (in English) and the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards. She is also a Member of Faculty’s Scientific Committee and Secretariat of Food Engineering Committee of Hungarian Academy Sciences, Regional Committee in Szeged. Throughout her academic journey, she has participated as both oral and poster presenter in Hungarian and International conferences. She was invited to present at Natur–Mensch–Technologie Humboldt-Kolleg (2022). Publication background: co-author of 46 scientific papers, independent references: 146, H-index: 6.
Her research topics are food safety, preservation effect of biological agents, edible coating, elimination of biofilms and development of food products enriched with edible insects. She passionates about motivating and assisting students and she actively participates in the Erasmus and Ceepus program to engage with other professors and learn about different research and teaching techniques. In her leisure time, she rides bike, travels and cooks.

Eszter Trenyik Hungary

(MSc, 2022), currently assistant lecturer at the Institute of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, and PhD student. Holds a BSc in food engineering and an MSc in food safety and quality engineering. In 2022 won the talent award of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Szeged and won first place at the Scientific Student Conference of the Hungarian Food Science and Technology Association.
In the course of teaching work, she participates in the teaching of food engineering BSc, food engineering MSc, food safety and quality engineering MSc, nutrition science MSc and agricultural and food industry mechanical BSc courses.
Main educational activity covers the fields of baking industry, dry pasta industry, vegetable and fruit processing industry and milling industry practices.
Main research areas are the examination of the possibilities of use and the nutritional significance of different colored wheat genotypes, flour and dough tests, product development of grain-based foods and the development of functional foods.
During research work, author of 4 scientific journal articles, 1 book chapter, 1 conference report, 6 announcements, 16 abstracts and 3 other scientific works. Participated as a speaker at numerous domestic conferences and in poster sections at international conferences.

József Mihalkó Hungary

(MSc, 2019), assistant lecturer at the Institute of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged (since 2019), and PhD student at Doctoral School of Food Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Member of Agricultural Science of The Association of Hungarian PhD and DLA Candidates; Honorary external member of the Eötvös Loránd College of University of Szeged. Member of the Chemistry Workshop of the Eötvös Loránd College of University of Szeged. Member of the Food Engineering Working Committee of Szeged Regional Committee of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Head of Brewing Study Group of Faculty of Engineering of University of Szeged.
Teaching activities: meat and poultry processing technologies, brewing technologies, preservation industry technologies, food hygiene courses (Creating of HACCP plan; Personal hygiene and epidemiology; Environmental hygiene; Industrial hygiene; Plant installation hygiene). He participates in the teaching of food engineering BSc, food engineering MSc, food safety and quality engineering MSc, and agricultural and food industry mechanical BSc.
Main research topics: meat and poultry industrial researches, brewing innovations. His scientific performances received third and second places at the 33^th and 34^th National Scientific Students' Associations Conferences. He was supported by the New National Excellence Program in 2017-2018.
During research work, author of 15 scientific journal articles, 2 book chapters, 3 conference reports, editing 3 conference proceedings, 32 abstracts and 1 other scientific work. Participated as a speaker at Hungarian conferences 32 times and in poster sections at international conferences 12 times, and in the organization of 10 conferences.

Réka Dobozi Hungary

(MSc, 2024), institute engineer at the Department of Food Engineering, University of Szeged.
She embarked on her higher education in 2018 at the University of Szeged's Faculty of Engineering, earning a bachelor’s degree in Food Science Engineering in 2021 and a master’s diploma in Food Safety and Quality Engineering in 2024. Since 2022, she has served as an institute engineer in the microbiology laboratories, focusing on practical course instruction (biology, general and food/industrial microbiology) and supporting students in thesis-related experimental research.
Her research interests include dielectric monitoring of food industry processes, notably dairy, and more recently, ultrasound and microwave-assisted extraction of valuable compounds. Supported by the New National Excellence Program, her work received first and second places at the 35^th and 36^th National Scientific Students' Associations Conferences.
In 2021, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Academic Committee of Szeged "For the Support of Science in the Southern Great Plain" Foundation and the University of Szeged awarded her scientific work the second prize in the 2021 Scientific Competition. Her remarkable student academic work and achievements were awarded by the National Council of Scientific Students’ Association in 2023 with the Pro Scientia Gold Medal. As for her future, she plans to continue her research work within the framework of doctoral studies, building on her previous scientific activities.