Dirk Detken
Acting Head of Department
Department/Unit: Management Services (EMPOWER)
Phone: +39 0521 036 426
Email address: Dirk.DETKEN [at] efsa.europa.eu (Dirk[dot]DETKEN[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Dirk Detken has been acting Head of EFSA’s Management Services (EMPOWER) Department since September 2025, while continuing to serve as Head of EFSA’s Legal Affairs Services Unit.
Mr. Detken has held several positions at EFSA over the past years, including serving as Head of Legal Affairs Services Unit where he played a key role in shaping EFSA’s transparency approach and independence framework. In his role as EFSA’s Ethics Adviser, he has gained substantial experience in risk management The management of risks which have been identified by risk assessment. It includes the planning, implementation and evaluation of any resulting actions taken to protect consumers, animals and the environment and AI The adequate intake (AI) is a dietary recommendation used when there isn't enough data to calculate an Average Requirement. An AI is the average nutrient level consumed daily by a typical healthy population which is assumed to be adequate for the population's needs governance.
Mr. Detken contributed significantly to EFSA’s implementation of the Sustainability and Transparency Regulation, focusing on ethics, AI data protection, and transparent, independent management and has broad experience in streamlining and modernising administrative processes.
Prior to joining EFSA, Mr. Detken worked at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Parliament and the German Federal Bar.
Mr. Detken is a qualified lawyer, having completed his legal education at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, the University of Lausanne and the Court of Appeal in Berlin.