Dr. Irene McGrath

Managing Director and Senior Consultant, Kerona Scientific Ltd., Ireland

Donal Lynch, Risk Manager within the Pesticides Registration and Control Division, Ireland

Darren Abrahams, Partner/Barrister, Steptoe and Johnson LLP, Belgium

Dr. Nicola Gregg, Biocides Operational Policy & Support, Health and Safety Executive, UK

Silvia Colombo/Sandro Marroncelli, Chem Service Italy

Dr. Cindy van der Meer, Account Manager Biocides, ctgb, the Netherlands

Dr. Irene McGrath

Managing Director and Senior Consultant, Kerona Scientific Ltd., Ireland

Erik van de Plassche, Chair of the Biocidal Products Committee, ECHA, Helsinki

Mike McGrath, Managing Director, Necon, Ireland

Dr. Ilse Tonk, Senior Regulatory Toxicologist, Charles River, The Netherlands

10:40 – 10:50

Speaker to be confirmed

Dr. Mary Canty, Pesticides Registration and Control Division, Ireland

Managing Director, Kerona Scientific Ltd, Ireland

Irene studied Analytical Science at Dublin City University before completing a Ph.D. in Chemistry. She has spent almost 30 years managing Regulatory Departments in industry and working as a consultant for the regulation of plant protection products, biocides, plant biostimulants and fertilisers in the EU and Middle Eastern regions. Irene founded Kerona Scientific Ltd. In 2014 and manages the regulatory team of consultants in Ireland and Spain, working with clients worldwide on all aspects of data gap analysis, dossier preparation and strategic regulatory advice.

Risk Manager, Pesticides Registration and Control Division, Ireland

Donal graduated from University College Dublin in 2002 with B.Agr.SC (Hons.)(Animal Science). He joined the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2004 and has been working in the Pesticide Controls Division (PCD) since joining. His various roles within PCD have included enforcement, cross compliance, SUD, authorisation and registrations of PPPs and his current role of head of biocide registrations.

Partner/Barrister, Steptoe and Johnson LLP, Belgium

Darren enables clients throughout the chemicals and life sciences supply chain to get and keep their products on the European market. He focuses on defence of products through strategic advice, advocacy before institutions and agencies, and litigation before EU and national courts and tribunals. He has a wealth of experience with the European regulation of biocidal products, plant protection products, REACH, classification, labelling and packaging, GM food and feed, cosmetics, and endocrine disruptors. Darren is recognized Europe-wide for his Environment and Agro/Food practice by Chambers Europe, who quotes clients’ praise for his work: “he is very knowledgeable and experienced in his field – a very good communicator who is responsive and strategically savvy.” 

Biocides Operational Policy & Support, Health and Safety Executive

Nicola has almost 30 years of experience working for the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, initially employed as a toxicologist working on several National, EU and International programmes, such as National Occupational Limit Setting, EU Classification and Labelling and EU Existing Substances. Within Biocides Nicola has headed up the UK’s input to Active Substance evaluations and has been the Head of Operational Policy for several years. A key element of her work was to represent the UK at the Biocides Competent Authority and Standing Committee meetings. Nicola is currently heavily involved in EU Exit–related matters where they impact on Biocides.

Nicola has a biology degree, a pharmacology PhD and a masters in Health Science.

Chem Service Italy, Micobiological Analysis and Genetic Unit Manager and Study Director

Silvia graduated from the University of Milan in 1992 with a degree in Food Science and Technology.

She is with Chemservice – Controlli e Ricerche for the past 18 years where her current role is Micobiological Analysis and Genetic Unit Manager and Study Director. Silvia coordinates and holds responsibility for the microbiological analysis of food matrices, environmental and cosmetic. She is also responsible for analysis conducted with conventional PCR, Real-Time PCR and ELISA arrays of food, environmental and cosmetic.

Sandro Marroncelli

Chem Service Italy, Regulatory Affair Manager

Sandro graduated from the University of Milan in 2003 with a degree in Chemistry. He joined Chem Service where he is responsible for the Regulatory Affair Unit. He has more than 10 years experience in chemical registration, mainly in the biocide and pesticide fields. His expertise is in the area of physical-chemical properties, analytical methods and e-fate.

Account manager Biocides, Board for the Authorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb), The Netherlands

Cindy graduated from University College and has a PhD in Medical Biology. She joined the biocides team of the Ctgb in 2010 and has been working as a project manager for biocide authorisations for 8 years. During this time, she also participated in the Biocides Coordination Group. In 2018 Cindy became Account manager Biocides and in this role, she is the first point of contact for companies seeking a biocides registration.

Biocidal Products Committee, ECHA

Erik graduated from the University of Utrecht in 1986 where he studied biology. After a career at the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM) and consultancy in the Netherlands he joined to European Commission in 2004 related to the preparations for REACH. In 2009 he moved to ECHA where is the Chair of the Biocidal Products Committee since the start of its operations in 2014.

Mike McGrath

Mike is the Managing Director of Necon Technologies Ltd, a company which specialises in Copper Silver ionisation for Legionella Control. Mike is also a Director of Copper Cover Ltd. providing antimicrobial Copper Touch Surface Solutions. Mike is the founder and Chairman of the European Biocidal Copper Taskforce and industry representative since 2013.

Dr. Ilse Tonk

Regulatory toxicologist, Charles River Laboratories, The Netherlands

Ilse has a degree in biomedical sciences from Radboud University and has obtained her Ph.D. in Toxicology at Maastricht University in 2012. Ilse joined Charles River Laboratories (previously known as NOTOX B.V. and WIL Research Europe B.V.) in 2016 as a regulatory toxicologist, specialized in human toxicological risk assessment. She works on dossier preparation, including risk assessment, and evaluation for agrochemicals, biocidal products, and industrial chemicals.

Biocide Assessor, Pesticides Registration and Control Division, Ireland

Mary has a BAgrSc (Animal Science) and a PhD from University College Dublin (UCD). She joined the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in late 2006, working for 6 years in the Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis in UCD, where she graduated with a MSc Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She subsequently moved to DAFMs Feedingstuffs Division, then into DAFMs Investigations Division before moving to DAFMs Pesticide Controls Division in June of 2020. In all three Divisions, Mary has worked as an enforcement officer.