Call for applications: come and be an ANSES expert!
Why not put your scientific skills to work for the public good? ANSES is launching a call for applications to renew its expert groups in environmental and occupational health. Come and take part in the production of health benchmarks that are essential to public policy-making (on water and air quality, exposure to toxic chemicals at work and in everyday life, endocrine disruptors, radiofrequencies, nanomaterials, etc.), while enhancing your career with a unique scientific and human experience.
Contribute to the production of robust science that is invaluable for protecting the population's health
In order to assess health risks, ANSES relies on collective, independent expert appraisals, conducted by the multidisciplinary scientific expert groups it coordinates.
This involves bringing together scientists from a wide range of disciplines to share and compare their scientific analyses. As an independent scientist, you will contribute with the group to the production of expert opinions and reports that provide useful insights for all society's stakeholders on major health issues. A rewarding role that will boost your scientific career.
Collective expert appraisals at ANSES involve:
- experts from different disciplines debating and expressing their opinions on health issues;
- consideration of all available scientific data;
- hearing all points of view expressed by the experts, as part of a collective (diversity of approaches) and adversarial debate (discussing the evidence while taking uncertainties into account);
- formulating conclusions and recommendations, to help ANSES shape its opinions.
Eleven expert groups to be renewed
Identifying pesticide metabolites of concern in tap water, anticipating the risks associated with 5G deployment, helping to limit sources of exposure to asbestos, improving the composition of feminine hygiene products and baby nappies... These are just a few examples of the work done by the experts involved in these groups.
ANSES is renewing six expert committees in environmental and occupational health, and five related working groups. This call for applications is open until 15 March 2024. Experts are appointed intuitu personae for four years.
The Agency is therefore seeking high-level scientific and technical skills in a wide range of fields, including toxicology, chemistry, microbiology, endocrinology, ecotoxicology, metrology, epidemiology, hydrology, hydrogeology, water treatment, new technologies, human and social sciences, etc.
>> View the call for applications (in French)
What does the role involve in practical terms?
- Participation in plenary meetings with all the group's experts on average once every six to eight weeks, from September 2024, either on-site or via videoconference
- Critical review of documents
- Drafting of certain parts of collective reports related to your areas of expertise
- Where appropriate, formulation of recommendations to be discussed with the expert group
Examples of recent expert appraisals in environmental health
Water and the challenges of scarcity and deterioration
There is strong pressure on natural water resources due to urban development, industry and agriculture, and this is increasing with climate change. Access to high-quality drinking water is a key concern in France and beyond. ANSES's expert appraisals aim to support the authorities in addressing the major challenges of quantitative and qualitative management of resources.
Chemicals in consumer products
Everyday consumer products contain chemicals that can pose risks, particularly for specific populations such as children. Several of ANSES's recent expert appraisals recommended regulatory changes to improve health protection in the long term.
Radiofrequencies and new technologies
In response to the rapid changes in how infrastructures and technologies are organising our lives and work, ANSES is regularly called upon to anticipate the related risks. Expert appraisals in this field cover a wide range of issues that resonate strongly with the concerns of our fellow citizens.
Air pollution and air quality
Faced with this major public health challenge, scientific expert appraisals help to strengthen the courses of action with regard to pollutants of concern, whether in ambient air or the air we breathe in our homes, workplaces and transport systems. It is also important to anticipate the effects of climate change and shifts in behaviour on the nature and management of risks.
Endocrine disruptors
Given the diversity of sources of exposure to these substances and the extent of the possible adverse effects on our hormonal functions, scientific expert appraisals are crucial for refining the list of problem substances and taking account of the role of environmental exposure in the development of certain diseases: metabolic diseases, reproductive diseases, obesity, etc.
Chemicals covered by the REACH and CLP Regulations
The REACH and CLP Regulations seek to effectively manage the risks associated with the use of hazardous chemicals, such as substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction. With the support of its experts, ANSES assesses these substances and proposes restriction measures in accordance with the European framework set by these regulations.
Health reference values
Protection against chemical risks is based on threshold values, which are defined and strengthened through developments in scientific knowledge. ANSES draws up and updates a series of reference values that are useful for assessing health risks and establishing the management values needed to protect against exposure to risks.
>> Find all of ANSES's expert appraisals in environmental health
