Meet the speakers & panelists
Session 1 - EURACTIV Virtual Conference
Panel session: The European Food System: The transition towards sustainability and climate mitigation
Wim Haentjens, Directorate-General Research & Innovation; ‘Food Systems & Bioeconomy’ Unit, European Commission
Wim holds an engineering degree with a major in chemistry from Gent University and an MBA in International Management from Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Wim joined the European Commission in 2015 from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Flanders, Belgium, where between 2007 and 2015 he was active in the negotiations and implementation of the latest reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy. Prior to this he held in various positions in the private sector, in particular in the food sector.
He is working in the Food Systems & Bioeconomy Unit of DG Research & Innovation. He is part of the policy team that is managing the Food 2030 initiative.
Atidzhe Alieva-Veli, Bulgarian Member of the AGRI Committee, European Parliament
Ms. Alieva-Veli is a Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) currently serving her first term, forming part of the Delegation of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party within the Renew Europe political group. She is a full member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and a full member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. In addition, Ms. Alieva-Veli is a Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and During this time, she was responsible for the supervision of Rural Development Programmes in Bulgaria including for the communication with EU authorities. Prior to that, she held various other functions within the State Fund such as Head of Unit “Methodology and Control”, Head of Sector “Dairy”, Chief Expert for “Milk quotas” and “School dairy schemes”, etc.
Ms. Alieva-Veli holds a Bachelor’s in Biotechnologies and a Master’s in Industrial Biotechnologies. Ms. Alieva-Veli has experience serving as Deputy Executive Director of the State Fund for Agriculture from 2013 until her election as MEP.
Dr. Máximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Dr. Máximo Torero Cullen is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Prior to joining FAO, he had been Executive Director at the World Bank Group since November 2016 and, before the Bank, Dr. Torero led the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
His major research work lies in analyzing poverty, inequality, importance of geography and assets (private or public) in explaining poverty, and in policies oriented towards poverty alleviation based on the role played by infrastructure, institutions, and on how technological breakthroughs (or discontinuities) can improve the welfare of households and small farmers. His experience encompasses Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. Dr. Torero, a national of Peru, holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific, Lima, Peru. He is a professor on leave at the University of the Pacific (Peru) and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Bonn, Germany, and has also published in top journals (QJE, Econometric Theory, AER-Applied Microeconomics, RSTAT, Labor Economics and many other top journals). In 2000,
Dr. Torero has received the Georg Foster Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, won the Award for Outstanding Research on Development given by The Global Development Network, twice, in 2000 and in 2002 and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2014.
Prof. dr. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Chair of the FACCE-JPI Scientific Advisory Board.
Professor Ewert is Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and Professor of Crop Science at the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn. He is interested in physiology of crop and agro-ecosystems as well as in system analysis and modelling of crop and cropping systems. Previously, he has worked in the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands before taking up his current position at the University of Bonn.
He is was partner in the FACCE-JPI Knowledge Hub MACSUR, leading the Crop Modelling Theme (CropM) and participates in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP). He is the current chair of the FACCE-JPI Scientific Advisory Board. Furthermore, he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Animal Change Research Programme.
Session 2 - Scientific Debate
SESSION CHAIR
Barna Kovacs PhD, Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU, S.G. BIOEAST Initiative, FACCE-JPI Governing Board Vice-Chair
Mr Barna Kovacs is currently working as counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU. He has been appointed as the Secretary General of the BIOEAST Initiative, as vice-chair of the FACCE JPI, and as SCAR member on behalf of Hungary. His responsibilities covers the follow up of the Council discussion with regard to the research and innovation in the field of bioeconomy.
Between 2009-2017 he worked as scientific and policy officer in the European Commission's Directorate General Research and Innovation, Bioeconomy Strategy unit, in 2016 Mr. Kovacs was appointed as Secretary for the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research. Barna Kovacs was a focal point for relations with the EU Member States and civil society, coordinated foresight exercises in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries within bioeconomy, responsible for the developments of the Bioeconomy Observatory. In the period of 2004-2009 he worked in Brussels in the European Parliament.
Upon obtaining his PhD degree and teaching at the Budapest University of Economic Science and Public Administration, between 1999-2004 he worked at the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and Hungarian Statistical Office.
SESSION MODERATOR
Leo Enright, science communicator
Leo Enright is a former Chairman of the Irish Government’s science awareness programme, Discover Science and Engineering (DSE), and was twice appointed by the President of Ireland to the Board of Governors at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
He has a long association with FACCE-JPI arising from of his DSE government advisory work with Teagasc, and has moderated two major conferences for FACCE-JPI in the past. He is one of the longest-serving science communicators in the English-speaking world, having broadcast live commentaries on every major space event since the first Moon landing, and he continues to broadcast regularly on the BBC, Ireland's RTÉ and Al Jazeera.
KEYNOTE presentation: The role of science in simplifying complexity in uncertain times
Prof. dr. Margaret Gill, Professor of Integrated Land Use, Univerity of Aberdeen
I started my career as a livestock nutritionist, broadening out to agriculture, the environment and food systems. I spent a third of my career as a researcher, a third managing research – people and programmes – and a third as a scientific adviser, including 5 years in the Scottish Government as Chief Scientific Adviser for Rural Affairs and the Environment. From 2014-2019 I chaired the CGIAR Science and Partnership Advisory Council and the FACCE Science Advisory Board from 2015-2018. I currently Chair the EU Think Tank for the Fit4Food 2030 project and the UKRI-BBSRC Sustainable Agriculture and Food Strategy Science Advisory Panel.
Presentation: FACCE-JPI Strategic Research Agenda
Prof. dr. Gianluca Brunori, University of Pisa, FACCE-JPI Scientific Advisory Board Vice Chair
Professor Brunori (Vice-Chair of the SAB) is full Professor of Food Policy at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Pisa, where he is coordinator of the bachelor course Viticulture and Enology. His research activity regards innovation in agriculture and rural areas, sustainability of food systems, role of small farming in rural development and in food security.
Science presentations
Prof. dr. Martin Banse, Thünen Institute of Market Analysis, Braunschweig.
Martin Banse is Director at the Thünen Institute of Market Analysis in Braunschweig, Germany. He has over 20 years’ experience in quantitative analyses of agricultural policy and international trade. He has done much work in agricultural sector analysis and quantitative modelling, and has extensive experience in working with partial and general equilibrium models. He received his doctorate in agricultural economics from the University of Göttingen on analysing the transformation of the Hungarian agricultural and food economy. After four years at Wageningen Economic Research, he took up his current position at the Thünen Institute in 2009.
As part of his international research activities he coordinated the international Knowledge Hub MACSUR (Modelling Agriculture with Climate Change for Food Security) from 2012 to 2016.
Prof. dr. Catherine Stanton, Senior Principal Research Officer, Teagasc Agriculture and Food Development Authority
Catherine Stanton is Senior Principal Research Officer at Teagasc, Moorepark Food Research Center, Ireland and Research Professor at APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork. She received M.Sc. (Nutrition), PhD (Biochemistry,) and D.SC in recognition of published work (2009). Her research focusses on development of innovative dairy foods for human nutrition and health. She is ranked in the top 1% by citations in the field of Agricultural Science on four consecutive years (Clarivate Analytics 2017-2020). She is member of The Royal Irish Academy and has received the “IDF Elie Mechnikoff Award” and ‘ADSA Distinguished Service Award, 2020’.
She has coordinated a number of research projects, funded from a variety of sources, including ERA-GAS funded METHLAB- Refining direct fed microbials (DFM) and silage inoculants for reduction of methane emissions from ruminants (worth €1.3 million), involving world renowned leading teams from INRAE, Wageningen University and AgResearch in New Zealand. This project is aimed at developing live biotherapeutics for animal feed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Prof. dr. Pete Smith, University of Aberdeen
Pete Smith is Professor of Soils and Global Change at the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland UK) and Science Director of the Scottish Climate Change Centre of Expertise (ClimateXChange). His interests include climate change mitigation, soils agriculture food systems, ecosystem services and modelling.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology a Fellow of the Institute of Soil Scientists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, a Fellow of the European Science Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society (London).
Prof. dr. Guillaume Echevarria, ENSAIA, Université de Lorraine
Guillaume Echevarria is professor of Soil Biogeochemistry at the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine (ENSAIA). His work is in the field of biogeochemistry of nickel in soil-plant environments. On the applied side of his research, his research is in the agronomy of nickel agromining in Europe, and beyond. He now develops new research on ecosystem services provided by agromining systems in both temperate and tropical ultramafic environments.
Guilome is member of the permanent scientific board of the International Serpentine Ecology Society and of the editorial board of International Journal of Phytoremediation and Ecological Research.
Panelists debate on programming the future in the context of research priorities
Gudrun Langthaler, Special Advisor in the Department of the Bioeconomy, Research Council of Norway.
As of June 2020, Gudrun Langthaler has taken on the role of Chair in the FACCE-JPI after having been a member of the Governing Board since 2013 and a Vice Chair since January 2017.
She works for the national RTD-funding organisation, the Research Council of Norway, and represents Norway in the Horizon 2020 Programme Committee on Societal Challenge 2, which includes food security, agriculture and the bioeconomy. She also is the Norwegian member of the Steering Group of the European Standing Committee on Agricultural Research.
In the period from 2007 to 2010 she was based in Brussels to lead the Research Council's Brussels office.
Gudrun Langthaler trained in Marine Biology and holds a PhD from the University of Vienna. A post-doc fellowship brought her to Norway where she conducted research at the University of Oslo. A 10- year's employment period in a multinational company followed where she worked with marketing in the diagnostics' field. In 2000 she joined the Research Council to work with the European Framework Programmes.
José Manuel Gonzalez, European Programmes Division of CDTI, Spain.
José Manuel Gonzalez was born in Madrid in 1974 and he is married with three children. He is an Agricultural Engineer by Polytechnic University of Madrid, specialized in food industries. Since January 2007 he works for the European Programmes Division of CDTI as Spanish Delegate to “Bioeconomy” under the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013) and H2020 (from 2014 onwards). He is already representing Spain in the preparations of the Horizon Europe Cluster 6 (Bioeconomy and Environment). He also represented Spain in the BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking from 2014 to 2018, where he also chaired the States Representative Group.
Prior to that Jose Manuel GONZALEZ worked for more than 6 years as project manager for CGI, S.A. a consultancy firm specialized in agro-food industries. In his last year, he took part of the Board of Directors. During 2014 and 2015 he worked in the preparations of the Spanish Strategy on Bioeconomy, and nowadays he is a member of the Bioeconomy Observatory in Spain.
Agata Foks, Minister’s Counsellor for European Affairs, Department of Innovation and Development, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland.
She is responsible for shaping scientific strategies resulting from EU framework documents and national policies. Her professional scope of responsibilities include ensuring the proper implementation of work programmes and tasks resulting from cooperation with the institutions of the European Union in the field of agriculture, food, climate change, biodiversity and bioeconomy.
She represents Poland in the working bodies of the European Commission in her field of duties: Horizon 2020 Programme Committee on Societal Challenge 2 (PC SC2), Horizon Europe Shadow Thematic Configuration Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (HE SC CL6), Scientific Committee on Agriculture Research (SCAR), States Representatives Group BBI JU (SRG BBI JU) and the Governing Board of the Joint Planning Initiative of Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (JPI FACCE). From May 2019, she performs her duties as the vice-chair of the States Representatives Group BBI JU.
Prof. dr. Frank O’Mara, Director of Research, Teagasc, Ireland.
Prof. dr. Frank O’Mara is the Director of Research at Teagasc, with responsibility for leading the research programme which covers all aspects of agri-food research from soils to consumers. His role involves setting priorities, identifying opportunities and securing resources, and includes liaison with industry stakeholders, policy makers, other agencies and research institutes and universities.
He also contributes to various national and EU committees and bodies, review panels and scientific advisory boards, and became President of the Animal Task Force in 2020. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in UCD in 2017.
Session 3 - Science Policy Debate
SESSION CHAIR
Barna Kovacs PhD, Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU, S.G. BIOEAST Initiative, FACCE-JPI Governing Board Vice-Chair
Mr Barna Kovacs is currently working as counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU. He has been appointed as the Secretary General of the BIOEAST Initiative, as vice-chair of the FACCE JPI, and as SCAR member on behalf of Hungary. His responsibilities covers the follow up of the Council discussion with regard to the research and innovation in the field of bioeconomy.
Between 2009-2017 he worked as scientific and policy officer in the European Commission's Directorate General Research and Innovation, Bioeconomy Strategy unit, in 2016 Mr. Kovacs was appointed as Secretary for the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research. Barna Kovacs was a focal point for relations with the EU Member States and civil society, coordinated foresight exercises in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries within bioeconomy, responsible for the developments of the Bioeconomy Observatory. In the period of 2004-2009 he worked in Brussels in the European Parliament.
Upon obtaining his PhD degree and teaching at the Budapest University of Economic Science and Public Administration, between 1999-2004 he worked at the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and Hungarian Statistical Office.
SESSION MODERATOR
Leo Enright, science communicator
Leo Enright is a former Chairman of the Irish Government’s science awareness programme, Discover Science and Engineering (DSE), and was twice appointed by the President of Ireland to the Board of Governors at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
He has a long association with FACCE-JPI arising from of his DSE government advisory work with Teagasc, and has moderated two major conferences for FACCE-JPI in the past. He is one of the longest-serving science communicators in the English-speaking world, having broadcast live commentaries on every major space event since the first Moon landing, and he continues to broadcast regularly on the BBC, Ireland's RTÉ and Al Jazeera.
KEYNOTE presentation: FACCE-JPI impact on European and national policies
Sébastien Treyer, Executive Director Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations - IDDRI.
Sébastien Treyer is Executive Director of IDDRI, since January 2019 (he joined the institute in 2010 as Director of Programmes). He is also Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) and member of the Lead Faculty of the Earth System Governance Network. A graduate from École Polytechnique, chief engineer of the Corps of Bridges, Water and Forests, and PhD in environmental management, he was in charge of foresight studies at the French Ministry of the Environment, and played an active role in leading the interface between science and policy and scientific programming at the European Commission, the French National Research Agency, and territorial actors such as the Seine Normandy Water Agency.
Panelists debate on European Priorities
Nathalie Sauze-Vandevyver, Director "Quality, Research & Innovation", DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission.
Since 1987, Mrs. Nathalie Sauze-Vandevyver has held various positions within the services of the European Commission (Financial Control, DG Enterprise and DG AGRI).
After 18 years in DG AGRI legal department, she has been nominated in October 2017 as Director of the Directorate "Quality, Research and Innovation, Outreach" within the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. Her mission is, in particular, to promote research and innovation in the agricultural sector through the EU's research policy (Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe) and the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability.
Simon Kay, Senior Expert at "Land Use and Finance for Innovation", DG CLIMA C3, European Commission.
Dr Simon Kay is senior expert at the European Commission, Directorate General for Climate Action, covering the land sector and agriculture greenhouse gas emissions and removals. After obtaining his PhD from University College London (on the use of remote sensing to monitor agriculture), he worked for nearly two decades in applied research linked to Common Agricultural Policy implementation.
Since 2013, he has been deeply involved in the formulation of the 3rd pillar of the EU 2030 climate policy framework concerning land use and focussing on agriculture and forestry.
Dr. Wolfgang Zornbach, Head of Division 521; Sustainability and Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany.
Since 2019, Wolfgang Zornbach is Head of the Division of Sustainability and Climate Change at the federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. After finishing his PhD in Biology at the University of Hamburg, he has been working at the Division Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2017 he switched to the Division Sustainability and Climate Change.
Dr. Anikó Juhász, Deputy State Secretary, Secretariat of Agricultural Economy, Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture.
Anikó Juhász is the deputy state secretary of Ministry of Agriculture from 2018. She was the general director of AKI (Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Budapest, Hungary) between 2015-2018.
Master’s degree in Horticultural Engineering (1997) and PhD in Management and Business Administration (2010). Seventeen years of experience in food supply chains and related policy research, especially the relevance of short food supply chains and quality schemes in Hungary. Project and programme evaluator of FP7 and H2020 calls since 2012.
Co-chair of the European Union’s Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) Strategic Working Group on Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS SWG) (2018-).
Panelists debate on europe's role in shaping global transition on sutainable pathways
Tassos Haniotis, Director "Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis", DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission.
Tassos Haniotis is Director for "Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis" in the DG for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission. During his 30-year career in the European Commission he has also held posts as Acting Director for Direct Payments, Head of Unit in the Agricultural Policy Analysis and Perspectives Unit and the Agricultural Trade Policy Analysis Unit in DG AGRI, as Deputy Head of Cabinet of former European Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler, and as Agricultural Counsellor in the European Commission’s Delegation in the US.
Tassos holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia in the U.S., and a B.A. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business in his native Greece, and was a visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Agricultural Studies, Wye College, University of London.
A member of the Executive of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium during 2012-14, Tassos currently represents the European Commission in the G20's Rapid Response Forum, which he will Chair in 2020-21.
James Lomax, Sustainable Food Systems and Agriculture Programme Officer, United Nations Environment
James Lomax is currently food systems and agriculture adviser in UNEP’s ecosystems division. James has been leading efforts on this topic at UNEP since 2009. He has pioneered the idea of systems thinking in the food and agriculture sector where nutrition, waste, environmental externalities and livelihoods must be considered if a shift to more sustainable food systems is to be realized. Currently, James is partly seconded to the Food Systems Summit and is also focusing on sustainable land-use finance mechanisms, repurposing farmer fiscal support, regenerative and net-positive agriculture and coordinating UNEP’s internal work on food systems and agriculture.
A tropical agriculturalist by training (MSc Reading University), before joining UNEP James had a varied career in the private sector in farming, small holder development, food processing and export in East Africa and Europe.
Guillaume Gruère, Senior Policy Analyst - Trade and Agricultural Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Guillaume Gruère is a senior policy analyst in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Trade and Agriculture Directorate, where he leads the work on climate change, water and resilience in agriculture.
Prior to joining the OECD, he was a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), where he conducted research on agricultural, food, environmental and trade policies in developing countries. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed publications, including two articles that received awards from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
G. Gruère holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California Davis, a MS in environment and natural resource economics and a Diplôme d’Ingénieur Agronome from AgroParisTech, Paris.
Irene Hoffmann, Secretary, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Irene Hoffmann is Secretary of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Between 2002 and 2015, she was Chief of the Animal Genetic Resources Branch and Chief of the Animal Production Service in FAO, and acted as Secretary of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources. Irene holds a Ph.D. in Agriculture from Hohenheim University and an MSc in Agricultural Science from Göttingen University. Between 1994 and 2002, she was assistant professor at the Institute of Livestock Ecology, Giessen University, where she coordinated international and interdisciplinary research programmes.
Earlier in her career she worked in development (GIZ, Africa), as scientific editor, and for development NGOs. She has organised international policy and technical conferences and published extensively on scientific and policy topics, and she has served in various advisory committees and review panels.
Dr. ir. Janny Vos, Strategic Partnerships Director, CAB International.
Dr. ir. Janny Vos is CABI’s strategic partnerships director and responsible for the development of new development programmes and projects that are consistent with the sustainable development goals in particular in relation to rural development policies and strategies. She has a strong background in integrated crop management, knowledge dissemination and projects to phase-out the reliance of highly hazardous pesticides.
She has worked in multiple countries across Asia and Africa in particular and has developed training modules on integrated pest management for vegetables in SE Asia, cocoa in Africa and apple in SE Europe. She has been advisor on regional and global programmes on integrated pest management and currently is a member of the programme board of CABI’s award winning food security programme Plantwise.