Lucia Anelich, PhD Pr.Sci.Nat.
Professor Lucia Anelich has a PhD in microbiology and is currently Managing Director of her own Food Safety Training and Consulting Business, Anelich Consulting, which she started in 2011. Prior to that, she spent 5 years at the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa where she established and headed up a food safety body for the food industry, a first for the country, until 2010. Before joining the CGCSA, she spent 25 years in academia at the Tshwane University of Technology where she was Head of Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology and Associate Professor. She is a member of the International Commission on the Microbiological Specifications for Food (ICMSF), Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, past Chair of the Scientific Council of IUFoST, Immediate Past Chair of the Food Hygiene Committee of the South African Bureau of Standards and Immediate Past President of the South African Association for Food Science and Technology. She is Adjunct Professor at the Central University of Technology, South Africa and is currently a food safety expert for the African Union (AU) and a member of the Advisory Group establishing the AU Food Safety Authority. She is the first woman to receive the SAAFoST President’s award in 2021 for having made a significant contribution to advancing food science and technology for the provision of safe and wholesome food. She was also honoured by IAFP in 2022, by being invited to present the Ivan Parkin lecture.
Alan Boobis, PhD
Professor Alan Boobis is Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology and Director of the Public Health England-supported Toxicology Unit at Imperial College London. He has been a member of Imperial College London for almost 40 years. His main research interests lie in mechanistic toxicology, drug metabolism, mode of action, and chemical risk assessment. He has published approximately 230 original research papers (H-factor 73). He is a member of several national and international advisory committees, the Committee on Toxicity (chair), the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation, Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (veterinary residues – co-chair,) and Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (alternating co-chair). He has been a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Pesticides, Committee on Carcinogenicity, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Food Contaminants, and the EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues. He is a member and past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), Vice-President of ILSI Europe, and Chair of ILSI. He is involved in several HESI and ILSI Europe projects. Awards include fellowship of the Society of Biology and the British Toxicology Society (BTS), the BTS John Barnes Prize Lectureship, honorary membership and Merit Award of EUROTOX, the Royal Society of Chemistry Toxicology Award, the Society of Toxicology Arnold J Lehman Award, and Officer of the British Empire.
Michael E. Knowles, PhD
Dr. Michael Knowles is a pharmacist and medicinal chemist who spent the first half of his career with the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, where he became Chief Scientist (Fisheries & Food) and Head of the Food Science Group. The latter half of his career was spent with The Coca-Cola Company, where he became Vice-President Global Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, from which he retired in 2013. A graduate of the University of Nottingham, Dr. Knowles is a Fellow of several scientific societies; past Global President of the International Life Sciences Institute; a Liveryman of the Society of Apothecaries, London, and a Freeman of the City of London. His scientific publications are mainly in the area of food safety and he is joint founding Editor of the journal Food Additives and Contaminants. He is a former Chairman of the Board of the European Technology Platform’s Food for Life and a former Governing Council Member of the International Union of Food Science & Technology and Chair of its Membership Committee.
Bert Pöpping, PhD
Dr. Bert Pöpping is an independent consultant and managing director of the strategic food consulting company FOCOS. He previously worked as Chief Scientific Officer and Director Scientific Development and Regulatory Affairs for multi-national contract laboratories. Dr. Pöpping has more than 20 years of experience in the food testing industry and has authored over 50 publications on topics related to food safety, food authenticity, food analysis, validation, and regulatory assessments. He also edited one book in this field. Dr Pöpping is member of the editorial board of J.AOAC International, Journal of Food Additives and Contaminants, Journal of Food Analytical Methods, and Journal of Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods. He serves on the Thought Leaders Advisory Committee of AOAC International and on panels of several other international organizations. He also acts as project evaluator for the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 (H2020) program. Dr. Pöpping is an active member of numerous national and international organizations including USP, CEN, ISO, BSI and several governmental method working groups. He also chairs a recently established working group on emerging and future technology developments and their impact on food industry and consumers.