This initiative is a follow-up to a series of research seminars which took place from February 2014 to June 2015 (see the following link for a description in French: (http://altexpert.hypotheses.org/). The symposium will open a forum for discussion and interaction on the production of the knowledge and expertise that inform occupational health policy.

Argument

This initiative is a follow-up to a series of research seminars which took place from February 2014 to June 2015 (see the following link for a description in French: http://altexpert.hypotheses.org/). While the seminars focused on French experiences only, the upcoming international symposium will aim at contrasting the French context with distinct experiences from other European countries and North America.

The symposium will open a forum for discussion and interaction on the production of the knowledge and expertise that inform occupational health policy.

This event will bring together a wide range of actors involved in the production of knowledge for public policy making, namely: scientists from various disciplines, notably toxicology and epidemiology; social science - sociology, history, political science - researchers interested in knowledge production and application in occupational or environmental health; field actors - practitioners, workers, members of associations - involved in collective actions which led to knowledge production; unionists committed to workers’ health protection; members of institutions which produce or use scientific expertise regarding work and health (typically health protection agencies); and Master’s and PhD students from diverse disciplines.

Some of the key questions that will be addressed are: how the biomedical and social sciences could be unlocked to facilitate their interplay; how the social sciences could help more; and how these different disciplines could work together better, using field expertise to support advocacy and inform decision-making in occupational health. This will involve identifying recurrent and specific difficulties as well as opportunities for improvement.

The international symposium is organized by Emilie Counil (EHESP, IRIS) and Emmanuel Henry (Université Paris-Dauphine, IRISSO) under the responsibility of a scientific committee representative of both the biomedical and the social sciences. This event is supported by CNRS, DIM Gestes (Paris Region), EHESP, ETUI, IRIS, IRISSO and PRINCEPS program (USPC)

Program

Tuesday, December 6^th, 2016

8h45 - Welcoming of participants

9h15 - Opening address

9h30 - Introductory presentation, The Altexpert seminar (2014-2015): Opening the debate about science and expertise in occupational health, Emilie Counil (epidemiologist, EHESP, France) and Emmanuel Henry (sociologist, Université Dauphine, France)

• 10h30 - Keynote speaker, Pain and prejudice: What science can learn about work from the people who do it, Karen Messing (ergonomist and biologist, UQAM, Canada)

12h - Lunch break (on-site)

13h30 - Session: When university gets involved with field workers

Chair: Nathalie Jas (historian, INRA, France)

• The Work Environment Program - A different academic vision, David Wegman (epidemiologist, Lowell University, USA)
• New Solutions: a journal for science, policy, and political context, Craig Slatin (work environment policy analyst, Lowell University, USA)
• Linking lay knowledge with academic research: a key issue for occupational health and safety, Laurent Vogel (lawyer, European Trade Union Institute, ETUI, Belgium)

15h30 – Coffee break

16h – Round table: What place is there for field knowledge?

Chair : Véronique Daubas-Letourneux (sociologist, EHESP, LEST, France)

Invited panel:

• Jean Luc Rué (unionist, CFDT Alsace, Permanence AT-MP CFDT, France),
• Reinhold Rühl (Bitumen forum, Germany).
• Borhane Slama (oncologist, Head of Medical oncology-hematology unit, CH Avignon, France),
• Annie Thébaud-Mony (sociologist, Association Henri Pézerat, France),

18h - End

Wednesday, December 7^th, 2016

• 9h - Keynote speakers, Citizen-Scientists: The Role of the Courts and the Public in Redefining Science and Public Health, David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz (historians, Columbia University and City University of New York, USA)

10h30 - Coffee break

11h - Round table: Knowledge and expertise in health protection agencies

Chair : Laure Pitti (historian, Université Paris 8, France)

Invited panel :

• François Buton (political scientist, CNRS, France),
• Pascal Empereur-Bissonnet (deputy director, Occupational health direction, Santé Publique France)
• Brice Laurent (sociologist, Mines ParisTech, France),
• Christophe Paris (professor of occupational medicine, Université Rennes I, France)
• Christophe Perrey (anthropologist, Santé Publique France).

12h30 - Lunch break (on-site)

13 h 30 - Session: Scientific expertise and Low Dose Exposure

Chair : Eve Bourgkard (epidemiologist, INRS, ADEREST, France)

• Nuclear workers studies : controversy about risks to health from low dose radiation, Ausrele Kesminiene (epidemiologist, IARC, France)
• Reconstructing radiation doses for international epidemiological studies : Main challenges in nuclear workers studies, Isabelle Thierry-Chef (physicist, IARC, France)
• How Expertise deals with Scientific and Political Uncertainty of Low Dose Exposure, Soraya Boudia (sociologist, Université Paris Descartes, France)

15h30 – Coffee break

• 16h - Keynote speaker, Methods for collaboration across different forms of situated knowledges : the REACH Ambler Project, Britt Dahlberg (anthropologist, Chemical Heritage Foundation, USA)

17h – Conclusions

17h30 : End