Veronika Somoza

Veronika Somoza is a Professor and Co-Chair at the Department of Physiological Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, and serves as Director of the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. Her career spans leadership roles in food chemistry and nutrition research, including Vice Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry (2014–2019) and Chair of the Christian Doppler Laboratory of Bioactive Aroma Compounds (2011–2018).

• venia docendi in Food Science (Technical University of Munich, Faculty of Chemistry, 2003)
• Habilitation with venia legendi for Human Nutrition and Food Science (Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, 2002)
• Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat., summa cum laude, University of Vienna, 1995)
• Master’s Degree (Dipl. oec. troph., Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen, 1991)

Her research focuses on the structural and functional characterization of chemosensory-active food ingredients, bioactive compounds, and metabolic interactions in food systems. She has contributed to predictive chemoreceptor-mediated human biology and food effector systems.

Notable awards include the AGFD Fellow Award (2020), FEMA Excellence in Flavor Science Award (2016), and Hans-Adolf Krebs Prize (2004). She serves on scientific advisory boards for the German Bundestag’s Citizens' Assembly 'Nutrition in Transition,' the Austrian Sparkling Science program, and the German Institute of Human Nutrition.