Zsuzsa Farkas (University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Hungary)

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Zsuzsas' Talk Title: AI-Driven Risk Identification and Preparedness Systems.

Dr Zsuzsa Farkas, PhD is Head of the Department of Digital Food Science at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, within the Institute of Food Chain Science. Her work focuses on data-driven food chain safety, veterinary public health, emerging risk identification, antimicrobial resistance, and the development of decision-support systems for One Health and food chain risk assessment.

She has a strong interdisciplinary profile combining food safety, veterinary public health, risk assessment, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and data integration. Her research group develops analytical frameworks and practical tools that support evidence-based decision-making in complex food chain and public health contexts. These include emerging risk monitoring systems, text-mining workflows, knowledge graph–based data integration, explainable machine learning applications, and dashboard-based decision-support solutions for risk assessors, risk managers, and other stakeholders.

Dr Farkas is actively involved in several international expert networks and regulatory science activities. She contributes to EFSA-related scientific cooperation, including the Emerging Risks Exchange Network, and serves as Vice-Chair of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling. In these roles, she is particularly engaged in the interface between scientific evidence, methodological development, and regulatory application, with special emphasis on sampling, early warning, emerging risks, and food chain safety governance.

She also plays a leading role in national and international research initiatives related to food chain safety and One Health. Within the National Laboratory for Infectious Animal Diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance, Veterinary Public Health and Food Chain Safety, she coordinates activities that connect artificial intelligence, data analysis, and decision-support approaches to antimicrobial resistance and food chain risk management. Her recent work also addresses alternative proteins, including edible insects and plant-based dairy alternatives, with a focus on chemical and microbiological risks, consumer behaviour, and integrated risk–benefit assessment.

A central element of her professional approach is the translation of complex scientific and data-driven results into usable tools and structured evidence for decision-makers. Her work aims to bridge research, regulatory science, and practical veterinary public health by developing transparent, explainable and operationally relevant methods for identifying, interpreting and managing food chain risks.