BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment Head of Department Professor Dr Gaby-Fleur Böl becomes President of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety
What it's about:
Professor Dr Gaby-Fleur Böl, Head of the Risk Communication Department at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment) since April 2006, has become President of the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety) on 1 April 2026. She was previously seconded to the BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety in July 2025 and entrusted with its interim management. “As a statutory task of the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, risk communication plays a crucial role in consumer protection,” says BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment President Professor Dr Dr Dr h. c. Andreas Hensel. “Professor Böl has continuously developed the department into a modern, versatile team with a strategic vision and determination – we would like to thank her and look forward to working with her in her new role at the BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety.”
Gaby-Fleur Böl studied biochemistry in Hanover, obtained her doctorate at Hannover Medical School on the topic of cellular signal transduction, and completed her habilitation on the correlation between nutrition and cancer at the German Institute of Human Nutrition and the University of Potsdam in Potsdam-Rehbrücke. She is also a professor at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biology at the University of Potsdam.
The interdisciplinary department she has headed at the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment for 20 years has a statutory mandate for risk communication and informs the public about potential health risks and the underlying research findings in the domains of food, chemicals and product safety. In doing so, the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment engages in active dialogue with various stakeholders in science, business, politics, the media, associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and consumer groups.
At the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Professor Dr Böl established the social science research programme. Key areas include risk perception, trust-building and reputation, the sociology of risk, risk-benefit assessment, stakeholder management, and crisis prevention and coordination. Since then, the BfR’s Risk Communication Department has been conducting research projects on, among other things, the perception of risks, early risk detection and crisis communication. Specific topics include innovative technologies such as nanotechnology or genome editing, new dietary trends such as veganism, and the prioritisation of risks by various social interest groups. The BfR’s social science research complements its natural science research in the domain of consumer health protection and enables evidence-based and target group-specific communication measures.
About the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment) is a scientifically independent institution within the portfolio of the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH). It protects people's health preventively in the fields of public health and veterinary public health. The BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment provides advice to the Federal Government as well as the Federal States (‘Laender’) on questions related to food, feed, chemical and product safety. The BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment conducts its own research on topics closely related to its assessment tasks.