Prof. Annemie Geeraerd (1972) obtained her PhD in Applied Biological Sciences (1999) at KU
Leuven. Subsequently, she became an FWO-postdoctoral research fellow and conducted a research
stay at AFSSA (Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, currently known as ANSES)
in Paris. Since 2006 she is appointed as a research professor at the division MeBioS, Faculty of
Bioscience Engineering and since 2013 she is the coordinator of the expertise centre Ethics@Arenberg.
Annemie Geeraerd has an extensive 20 years of expertise regarding microbiological food safety,
especially focussing on quantitative aspects such as predictive microbiology and risk assessment, in
collaboration with diverse research groups at KU Leuven and Ghent University. More recently she
also obtained knowledge on model building for plant physiological processes with impact on quality
and preservability of fresh fruit and vegetables in the postharvest chain. She is promoter of
approximately 25 PhD students and in February 2017 she is promoter of Prof. Louise Fresco
(Wageningen UR) at the occasion of her KU Leuven doctorate honoris causa.
Her research group Sustainability in the agri-food chain group is focusing on bridging the gap between
scientific research and end-users in the industry and society about sustainability issues in the agrifood chain. This is done by developing models & user-friendly software to enhance the application range and usefulness of scientific information in the agri-food chain.
Since 2007 she regularly acts as external expert in working committees of the FASFC and is a
member of the working group “Microbiology of Food Products” of the Superior Health Council and of
the Advisory Committee of ILVO. Within KU Leuven she is member of the board of the faculty, of the
Commission of Scientific Integrity and of the Social and Societal Ethical Committee.
