Prof. dr. Natalija Atanasova-Pancevska is a Full Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology at the Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. Trained as a Biochemistry & Physiology graduate, she obtained her M.Sc. in 2006 with a thesis on anaerobic fungi from monogastric and ruminant herbivores, and her Ph.D. in 2011 in Microbial Biotechnology on the biodegradation of hardly degradable cellulose substrates with enzyme complexes from anaerobic rumen fungi.

Her major disciplines include microbial biotechnology, secondary metabolites from microorganisms, antimicrobial activity of secondary metabolites, probiotic microorganisms, biology of anaerobic zoosporic fungi, and food safety. Her research interests span environmental and microbial biotechnology, probiotics and prebiotics, microbial ecology, food biotechnology, hydromicrobiology and food microbiology.

She has received numerous scholarships and international grants, including FEMS Meeting Grants for the 10th European Congress on Biotechnology (Madrid, 2001) and the III International Conference on Enzymes in the Environment (Viterbo, 2007), an IUMS Travel Award (Istanbul, 2008), and the 2020 VDGOOD International Scientist Award (ISAC 2020). She holds the Grant for Best Student of the Year (1997) and Best Graduated Student (1997/98) from the University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.