Monika Ehling-Schulz, Head of the Centre for Pathobiology and Head of the Unit of Microbiology at Vetmeduni Vienna, Austria, is internationally renowned for her work on toxigenic Bacilli. Her team has identified key regulators that orchestrate virulence in Bacillus cereus. She was awarded the Otto von Guericke Prize for her groundbreaking work on emetic B. cereus and the cereulide toxin, which opens new avenues for next-generation risk-based diagnostics. Her group has also implemented AI-assisted FTIR spectroscopy to improve food safety within a One Health framework, bridging veterinary medicine and food microbiology. 

She is an elected Fellow of the European Academy of Microbiology and served as President of the Austrian Society for Hygiene, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine (ÖGHMP). She is also the Austrian delegate to the Expert Committee on Microbiology of the Food Chain (CEN TC 463), and a member of Food for Life’s Expert Network (FLEN).