Every Summer Semester, Ecotox Master students do a 2-month internship or AMEO (Applied Module at an External Organization). Today, Stefanie shares her AMEO experience as a Guest Scientist at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma, Italy.
First-hand experience in regulatory science at the European level combined with a great Italian summer? That’s what I got during my 2.5-month internship as a Guest Scientist at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Hi, my name is Stefanie, and I spent my summer from May to mid-July 2026 in Parma, Italy, doing my AMEO with the ecotoxicology team at EFSA.
EU institutions always felt like black boxes to me, and I could never imagine what their work is like, which is why I loved gaining these insights. In the guest program at EFSA, I got the chance to see how authorization and risk assessment processes of pesticides from an ecotoxicological perspective work and how complex they are. I got to try myself at a Scientific Check and therefore got actual hands-on experience in regulatory science. I also joined expert meetings to follow their discussion, and honestly, I often felt overwhelmed by the amount of information embedded in guidelines and guidance documents, but starting to get a glimpse of the overall picture was a good reward. I also joined a field trip to the University of Bologna to learn about their research on bees. We were shown how pollen is collected from bees, and how they are spiked with test substances as food provision used in experiments. Also, seeing their methods to quantify behavioural effects due to chemicals was super interesting. And I had the opportunity to do a three-day training course on Study selection, data extraction and data synthesis.
I also got my own small project where I did some research for the ecotox team. During the risk assessment (RA) process for birds and mammals, regulators need to know which species are likely to be exposed to the given pesticide. That means that data are needed on which species occur in certain crops and geographical places where the pesticide is going to be used. This information is always provided by the applicant, but my team wanted me to check if I could get to the same conclusion with publicly available information like academic literature and distribution maps. My research led to the realization that this specific information is not covered by research from academia, which was actually a valuable outcome for the team.
I had an overall great experience working there with nice colleagues and a great supervisor. I had flexible working hours with the option of home office, great to work from a nice café with Italian coffee :D. The food in general was amazing, and I highly recommend the Italian gelato. The early summer period was a wonderful time to be in Parma. There are good train connections going to a lot of cities that were worth a trip, like Milan, Bologna, Florence, La Spezia and the sea. EFSA hosts more than 100 trainees each year, so I’ve met a lot of interesting young people I spent a very fun time with, from coffee breaks in the canteen to hiking and trips to the sea. Another highlight was the big EFSA summer party taking place every year. With music, food and friends, I had a memorable night in the EFSA garden. So my personal takeaway for everyone looking for AMEO opportunities: I highly recommend going to EFSA!
For further information don’t hesitate to contact me: s.ulrich.2001@web.de
