Katalin
ALFÖLDI

Katalin Alföldi is currently policy officer at the COST Association where she leads the Global Networking task. The task focuses on COST openness and inclusiveness and promotes it as a unique platform for trusted, international R&I cooperation. She started her career as member of the team conducting the screening negotiations on the Acquis Communautaire concerning environment and nature conservation between Hungary and the European Commission. She later became Programme Committee member for subsequent Research and Innovation Framework Programmes.
Moving from Budapest, Hungary to Brussels, Belgium she took on assignments at the European Commission DG R&I mainly dealing with the synergies between research and regional policies and designing the international STI cooperation strategy. She also gained diplomatic experience while being posted as science counselor at the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels. She negotiated different council conclusions and the European Institute of Technology’s seat agreement for Budapest (among others), while being posted at the Permanent Representation to the EU. She is an economist with a master on international relations and European studies. Her career has been interwoven with diplomatic assignments by being engaged and facilitating the advancement of science as a science diplomacy practitioner.