Biological Efficacy Experts

Their task is to investigate the effect of the plant protection product on a given pest and crop.

He is a qualified agricultural chemist-agricultural engineer, plant doctor, associate professor. From 1998 he worked for one and a half decade at the Budapest headquarters of the Plant Protection Administration in the area of plant health, then in the field of plant protection development and herbicide licensing. In the field of herbicide licensing, he was involved in the introduction of the EU zonal licensing system in Hungary, editing the applied Official Herbicide Testing Methodology volume. Besides the licensing tasks, he participated in the national field weed survey, as well as in the detection of newly emerging weeds and in the coordination of their protection. From 2013, he was responsible for herbicide development in the Danube and Black Sea regions at Syngenta Kft., from March 2021, he was the reader editor of Agrofórum, and from July 1, 2022, he has been working as a senior expert of plant protection products at NEVEX Institute Kft. He is Titled university associate professor, secretary of the Weeds and Weed Control Department of the Hungarian Plant Protection Society, member of the board of trustees of the Dr. Ujvárosi Miklós Foundation for a weed-free environment, board member of the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Biological Society, prof. Recipient of the Dr. Károly Hunyadi Memorial Medal, Memorial Prize Winner of the Dr. Bálintné Bálintné Barna Piroska Foundation.

She graduated at Pannon University as a certified agricultural engineer with a specialization in plant protection in 1998, and later obtained her plant protection engineering diploma from the same institution in 2001. In 1998, she joined the Plant and Soil Protection Service of Veszprém County, where she initially worked as a plant protection forecaster and later as a plant protection zoologist. Within the regional authority of plant protection, her responsibilities included conducting efficacy assessments of insecticides and temporarily fungicides. She examined various groups of insecticides and fungicides, participated in the detection of quarantine pests, and supported supervisory work through laboratory analyses. In the context of gradation and epidemic control, she conducted investigations on the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) and participated in the work of the defense task force formed at that time. She defended her doctoral PhD dissertation in 2013 in Sopron at the Faculty of Forestry of the University of West Hungary, which focuses on the mass reproduction of the gypsy moth. From 2015, she worked at Fructika Ltd., where she conducted Good Experimental Practice (GEP) biological efficacy assessments with fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides. Since 2017, she has been working at Biocont Ltd., a manufacturer and distributor of biological plant protection products. As a development engineer, she established connections with numerous European manufacturers and distributors of plant protection products, as well as organic farmers, gaining experience in the possibilities of ecological farming. Two years after the birth of her child, in February 2023, she joined Nevex Ltd. as a biological efficacy expert.

Senior Toxicologist Expert

The role of a toxicologist is to assess the effects of handling and use of pesticide formulations and the risks to human health from residues in water and food.

In 1990, he graduated at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Kaposvár as an animal husbandry engineer. In 1999, he obtained a second degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Kaposvár, and in 2002 he got his third degree in toxicology at the University of Veterinary Science. He has 31 years of experience as a study director in subacute and chronic mammalian toxicology studies. From 2008, he worked as a head of a toxicological laboratory in Budapest and as a study director. During his career, he conducted and reported more than 1500 toxicological studies. In 2022, he qualified as an ERT (European Registered Toxicologist). In the same year from June, he has been working as senior toxicologist expert of pesticides at NEVEX Institute Ltd.

Residue expert

Examines whether residues in ready-to-eat foods pose a risk and if so establishes whether the level of risk is acceptable to consumers.

He graduated at the Faculty of Agriculture Sciences of the University of Parma in Italy in 2017 as a Food Science and Technology Engineer. He spent his last semester in Argentina at the University of Belgrano, focusing on human nutrition and food science. In 2019, he was a visiting researcher at the IGFS (Institue for Global Food Security) in Northern Ireland, in the EU project FoodSmartphone, where he was developing smartphone analysers for on-site testing of food quality and safety. Later that year, he was accepted for a one-year traineeship at EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and continued as a staff member until August 2022. Here, he contributed to scientific opinions on pesticide residue risk assessment, data collection for the MetaPath platform and IUCLID testing. The MetaPath platform was developed to collect, organise, and analyse experimental data on metabolism or catabolism, observed biotransformation pathways and key supporting metadata. The results of metabolic studies in rats, plants and farm animals are collected and organised in a systematic database. The International Uniform Chemical Information Database (IUCLID) is a software application for recording, storing, maintaining, and exchanging data on intrinsic and hazardous properties of chemicals and is the standard data format adopted for pesticide applications. From September 2022, he works as a senior pesticide residue expert at NEVEX Institute Ltd.

Environmental Expert

His role is to estimate the expected concentrations of active substances and degradation products in terrestrial (soil, air) and aquatic environments, and the environmental risks of their use, based on the proposed use of pesticides.

Graduated from GATE in 1984, then gained several years of experience in plant protection in large-scale fruit (sour cherry, plum, peach, cherry, raspberry) and field crops. In the 1990s, he worked as a supervisor at the Pest County Plant Health and Soil Protection Station, where he oversaw plant protection. He continued the regulatory and licensing work under USDA scholarship in Washington, DC and at Penn State University in the IPM program. He was involved in the introduction of bacterial fertilizers and natural mineral-based preparations for plant nutrition in Hungary, in clarifying the scientific background and in the licensing of these products. Since 2010, in addition to his practical consultancy activities in the field of biological plant protection and nutrient supplementation, he has been involved as a plant protection expert in the introduction of large-scale indoor kosher vegetable production in Hungary, a field requiring special skills. From 2022 he works as a senior environmental expert of plant protection products at NEVEX Institute Ltd.

Senior Ecotoxicologist Expert

In case of plant protection products, target organism (e.g. pathogenic fungus, weed, pest insect) is the organism in which the treatment is directed against. However, usage of pesticides also has impact on non-target organisms. The ecotoxicological expert is responsible for assessing these effects and evaluating the risks. The assessment includes both terrestrial and aquatic organisms. In case of terrestrial organisms, the target areas of assessment are birds, mammals and other terrestrial vertebrates, non-target arthropods, honeybees and other bees, terrestrial micro- and macro-organisms and non-target plants. For aquatic organisms, the target organisms are fish, aquatic invertebrates, algae, aquatic plants and sediment-dwelling organisms.

She graduated at the University of Veszprém in chemistry-environmental sciences. During her university years she fell in love with ecotoxicology and wrote her thesis on this topic already. She worked for 19 years in the ecotoxicology department of a GLP toxicology laboratory. She started her career as an ecotoxicology technician and continued as a study director. From June 2012 she worked as a senior study director and from January 2015 as a principal scientist. During her career, she was responsible for the coordination and management of ecotoxicological studies and related activities (design, conduction, evaluation, reporting and validation). She has conducted and reported more than 1500 ecotoxicological studies. Since 2022, she has been working as a senior expert in ecotoxicology of pesticides at NEVEX Institute Ltd.