Executive Director
Department/Unit: Executive Directorate
Phone: +39 0521 036 970
Email address: Nikolaus.Kriz [at] efsa.europa.eu
Nikolaus Kriz took up the appointment of EFSA’s Executive Director in September 2025, after having served for three years as Head of EFSA’s Risk Assessment A specialised field of applied science that involves reviewing scientific data and studies in order to evaluate risks associated with certain hazards. It involves four steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation Services (ENABLE) Department.
A veterinary surgeon by training with over 30 years of professional experience, Nik’s career spans general veterinary practice, veterinary clinics and academia in four continents before moving to risk assessment in One Health at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). He then took on managerial functions in the area of parallel distribution and certificates, as well as supporting the work of the seven EMA scientific committees. In these roles Nik was responsible for the EU regulation on substances essential for the treatment of Equidae and the development of guidance for multi- strain A subtype of a microbe defined by its genetic make-up; for example, in the case of Escherichia coli O157, the 'O157' part of the name refers to the strain dossiers as well as the early development of the new veterinary medicines regulation. He also implemented the public register for parallel distributed products in the EU, a major step towards improved transparency in the sector.
Nik joined EFSA on 1 January 2017 as Head of Unit for Animal Health and Welfare and Plant Health, where he was responsible for delivering risk assessments for topics as diverse as Xylella fastidiosa, African swine fever, avian influenza and the welfare of farmed rabbits.
The main achievements of his tenure were the scientific support provided to the European Commission in implementing the Animal Health Law, the setting up of an animal disease data model, partnering on data collections to analyse risks from diseases shared between wildlife, livestock and humans, the introduction of commodity risk assessment of high risk plants, and horizon scanning for plant pests. He also oversaw a reprioritisation of work to enable the unit to support new animal welfare legislation.