Scientific Committee

Prof. Dr. Livia Simon Sarkadi Hungary

Chair of the Scientific Committee

1980 Dipl.-Ing in Chemical Engineering, Budapest Technical University, Hungary (BUTE); 1986 Dr.Techn. in Biochemistry, BUTE; 1991 Candidate of Chemical Sciences (CSc), Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS); 1999 Dr. Habil. (BUTE); 2010 Doctor of Science (DSc) in Chemical Sciences, HAS.
Working/pedagogical activity: Department of Biochemistry and Food Technology/Department of Applied Biochemistry and Food Science, BUTE (assistant professor-full professor, 1980-2012); Head of Department of Food Chemistry and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary (2012-2016)/Szent István University (SZIE 2016-2020)/Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE 2021-); vice rector of SZIE (2018-2020); head of Doctoral School of Food Science, SZIE/MATE (2019-). Research area: her research interests include food quality and food safety, with a particular emphasis on amino acids, biogenic amines and proteins, and the biochemical aspects of abiotic plant stress.
Bibliography: 440 scientific articles, total times cited 2752, H-index: 24. Additionally: President of the Hungarian Chemical Society (2011-); Chair of Food Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2019-); Chair of the Food Chemistry Division of EuChemS (2009-2014), elected Member of the EuCheMS Executive Board (2014-2021); elected member of Administrative Council of the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association; Ambassador of Hungary in Global Harmonisation Initiative international non-profit network (2015-). The most outstanding of her awards is the IUPAC 2015 Distinguished Women in Chemistry/ Chemical Engineering Awards and the EuChemS Service Award 2021 (European Chemical Society).

Prof. Dr. Béla Kovács Hungary

(MSc., 1987; PhD in agricultural science, 1998; Dr. habil., 2003; full professor, 2011-) Prof. Dr. Béla Kovács is a chemist, special attention has been paid to analytical chemistry. He is Head of the Institute of Food Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, at the University of Debrecen in Hungary. Moreover he is Head of the Doctoral Program of Food Science within the Doctoral School of Nutrition and Food Sciences.
He has undertaken various research activities in the past which include, among others: elaboration of sample preparation and analytical methods by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), moreover investigation of selenium, molybdenum and arsenic in various food, environmental, agricultural (feed, plant, soil, furthermore water and sludge, moreover animal origin) and biological samples.
At the University of Debrecen he teaches Food Engineers BSc, Food Safety and Quality Engineering MSc, moreover Nutrition MSc, English languages and Hungarian students. His subjects: Analytical chemistry, Food colloids, Instrumental analytics and Spectroscopic methods on BSc and MSc levels, furthermore Quality and quantity analyses of food and food raw materials, Element speciation methods in food research, moreover Element analytics (AAS, ICP) spectroscopic methods of food examination on PhD doctoral level.
The number of his publication is approximately 725 (papers, oral and poster presentations). He has totally 2000 citations (the independent citations is more than 1570) for his publications. His Hirsch index is 22, moreover he has more than 260 impact factors.

Prof. Dr. László Friedrich Hungary

Professor László Ferenc Friedrich graduated as a food engineer at the Faculty of Food Science of Szent István University in 2000, followed by PhD studies at the Doctoral School of Food Science Until 2004. He worked in the meat industry at Rózsavölgyi Kft. as Production Manager, Commercial Director, and Assistant Managing Director. In 2004 he was an Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Food Science, then Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and from 2020 he worked as a Professor. The link to the industry plays an important role in the university's operational, teaching, research, public and development activities. From 2017 to 2021, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Food Science at Szent István University, and later the Director of the Institute of Food Science and Technology at the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Over the past 20 years, he has taken an active role to develop the BSc and MSc education in Food Engineering, in the application of practical experiences in education, as well as in the implementation of practice-oriented training. His research activities include the management, development and implementation of numerous national and international Research and Development and Innovation collaborations, tenders and industrial contracts, typically involving the application of scientific results to industrial practice. In recognition of this, he received the Pro Alimentis Hungarie Prize in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Master Teacher Gold Medal for his work in school education and post-graduate education and for his significant contributions to TDK and PhD theses. His wide range of public activities is reflected in his membership of the Agriscience Committee and since 2021 as a Moderator of the organization, organizing and presenting at national and international conferences, membership of MÉTE, editor-in-chief of the journal HÚS and editor of the journal Food Science and Technology. He is also the President of the Cibus Hungaricus Foundation, which is actively involved in the implementation of the Digital Food Strategy.

Prof. Dr. Melinda Kovács Hungary

Melinda Kovács is a Széchenyi Prize-winning veterinarian, full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, professor at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), head of the Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition and the HUN-REN-MATE Mycotoxins in the Food Chain Research Group.
She graduated as a veterinary doctor at the University of Veterinary Medicine (Budapest). In 2005, she became a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (DSc). She was elected to corresponding and full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2013 and 2019, respectively. Since 1982, she has been working in the predecessor institutions of the MATE Kaposvár Campus (Agricultural College of Kaposvár, Pannon Agricultural University, Kaposvár University).
Her main research fields include production physiology, feed and food safety, One Health, mycotoxicoses. Her research work mainly serves feed and food safety aspects of animal production.
She held various university management functions in several periods (2019-2020: rector of Kaposvár University, 2006-2010: vice rector of Kaposvár University, then of Szent István University and MATE in 2020-2021, head of department and institute director since 1991). She is the founder and head of the HUN-REN-MATE Mycotoxins in the Food Chain research group, which explores the health-damaging effects of mycotoxins. She is the leader or participant of several national and international projects. Thirteen young scientists have obtained doctoral (PhD) degrees under her leadership or co-leadership, and she is currently supervising the work of three doctoral students.
Her teaching and scientific achievements have been recognized by several awards, including: Szent-Györgyi Albert Award (2010), Hungarian Gold Cross of Merit (2014) and Széchenyi Prize (2022). She is Honorary citizen of Kaposvár County City (2023).

Prof. Dr. László Varga Hungary

László Varga holds the position of full professor in the Department of Food Science at Széchenyi István University, located in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary, where he specializes in food microbiology. In addition to his professorial duties, he leads a doctoral school and chairs the doctoral council at the same institution. His research primarily explores the bacteriology of raw milk and the formulation of functional cultured dairy foods, particularly focusing on probiotics and prebiotics. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences recognized his contributions to the field by awarding him a DSc degree in 2017.
An active participant in the global scientific community, Professor Varga is involved with the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) based in Champaign, IL, USA and currently holds the position of co-chairman at the Society of Milk Science (SMS) in Kiel, Germany. He is also a member of the editorial boards for Acta Alimentaria and Élelmiszervizsgálati Közlemények – Journal of Food Investigation. His extensive publication record includes over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters as documented in his ORCID profile (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7431-852X), earning him more than 2400 independent citations and a Hirsch index of 25.