Permanent seminar
The overall objective of the ongoing seminar is to encourage the emergence of new research topics at the interface between health and the environment, by providing tools for thinking about interdisciplinarity and reflecting on the links between research and society. Through monthly sessions involving researchers from different backgrounds, the aim is to bring together a research community around the concept of the exposome and health and environmental issues, and to encourage reflection on the conduct of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.
The presentations scheduled for this seminar will contribute to the participants' reflections in three main areas:
- Theconcept of the environment: these sessions will examine in particular the contrast between a "pathogenetic" view of the environment as a reservoir of pathogens and a "salutogenic" view, in which the environment is understood in terms of socio-ecological functions that regulate the emergence of pathogens.
- Thelimits of integration: these sessions will examine the proposed methods for interdisciplinarity that integrate biological, social, and environmental factors, as well as ways of dealing with different epistemological and methodological frameworks.
- Interaction between research, policy, and social actors: these sessions will explore the potential impacts of exposome research on civil society actors and the possibilities for incorporating their requests and proposals into a process of mutual translation between non-academic and academic actors.
- Presentation of the ExposUM projects, with a particular focus on their interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary aspects
These events are organized as part of the ExposUM Institute, with the support ofMSH-SUD.
View past sessions on this page
1. The concept of the environment
Embodied ecologies: how residents "feel" their exposure to chemicals in everyday urban life and take action to reduce it
Speaker: Anita Hardon was trained as a medical biologist and anthropologist and has been engaged in transdisciplinary studies on synthetic chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Her research has generated important ethnographic insights into the use of these technologies in diverse social-cultural settings and their effects in everyday life. Anita Hardon is currently chair of the Knowledge, Technology, and Innovation group at Wageningen University and Research, and Professor of Anthropology of Care and Health at the University of Amsterdam. She has published widely disseminated articles, special issues, and books (Chemical Youth (an open access book), 2021 Palgrave Macmillan; Social Lives of Medicines, 2002 Cambridge University Press).
- Interview with Anita Hardon
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/interview-d-anita-hardon-pour-le-seminaire-permanent-exposum
- Full intervention
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/cycle-2023-2024/ecologies-incarnees
HEALTH IN THE ANTHROPOCENE
Speaker: Nathalie Blanc is a research director at the CNRS and director of the Centre des politiques de la Terre (Center for Earth Policy). A pioneer of eco-criticism in France, she has published and coordinated research programs on topics such as nature in the city, environmental aesthetics, and environmental activism.
In this session, Nathalie Blanc will explain how health is central to approaches to habitability, shedding light on the complex interrelationships between the environment, quality of life, ecological justice, and health. Habitability approaches explore how environments, whether natural or built, enable or constrain human and non-human life. She will discuss the central place of health and One Health approaches in the Earth Policy Center.
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/la-sante-en-anthropocene
2. The Limits of the Ambition for Integration
Interdisciplinarity between the humanities and social sciences and the life and environmental sciences: obstacles and drivers
Speaker: Jérémy Rollin is a contract professor and researcher in sociology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montpellier.
This presentation aims to shed light on the tensions associated with so-called "intersectoral" interdisciplinarity between the humanities and social sciences (HSS, mainly anthropology, sociology, and geography in this case) and the life and environmental sciences (LES, mainly entomology, parasitology, epidemiology, biology-ecology, and genetics in this case). Why, despite the interest of both LSE and HSS actors in interdisciplinarity, are there few effective collaborations within projects? This presentation is based on a sociological study conducted within an interdisciplinary scientific community on "infectious risks and vectors."
- Maintenance
- Full intervention
The exposome: epistemological challenges of integration in health and the environment
Speakers: Élodie Giroux, philosopher of science at Lyon III University, and Yohan Fayet, junior professor of geography and urban planning at Clermont Auvergne University/UMR Territoires
- Maintenance
- Full intervention
Health and environmental issues in the face of ignorance and public inaction
Speaker: Emmanuel Henry, political scientist and sociologist, professor at Paris Dauphine-PSL University and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute in Social Sciences (IRISSO, CNRS, INRAE). His work focuses on the role of science and expertise in shaping public issues and public policy, with a particular interest in health and environmental risks, including those related to work. He is co-author of Residues: Thinking Through Chemical Environments ( Rutgers University Press, 2021) and has also recently published La fabrique des non-problèmes. Ou comment éviter que la politique s’en mêle (Presses de Sciences Po, 2021).
- Maintenance
- Full intervention
Does it make sense to talk about all exhibitions?
Speaker: Gilles Moutot, October 2024. He is a lecturer in philosophy in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier-Nîmes and a member of the Center for Political and Social Studies (CEPEL, UMR 5112, University of Montpellier/CNRS). His research focuses on the historical epistemology of life sciences and medicine, drawing on perspectives developed by Georges Canguilhem and Michel Foucault, among others.
Interview with Gilles Moutot
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/interview-de-gilles-moutot-institut-exposum
Full intervention
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/parler-de-totalite-des-expositions-a-t-il-un-sens
Humanities, social sciences, and science-society at the Pasteur Institute: from the SHS Alliance-Afrique network to science fiction
How does the Pasteur Institute integrate the humanities and social sciences into its network? And what role is given to the science-society interface?
In this session, three researchers from the Pasteur Institute will present their career paths and the various initiatives they have undertaken during their careers.
Cyrine Bouabid is a biologist who became interested in social sciences during her doctoral studies. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar and coordinates the Alliance SHS Afrique project. She co-founded the social sciences network of the Pasteur Network of African institutes.
Meriem Belghith is an immunologist at the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, where she coordinates the Tunis Science Shop.
François Bontems is a researcher in structural biology and is interested in the relationship between science and society and how science fiction can be used to reflect on this relationship.
Weaving together the One Health approach, INTERMEDIATION professions
Speaker: Nicolas Duracka is a lecturer in information and communication sciences at Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier and has been working for several years on the communication processes of actors of social change. Today, he applies his analysis of social transformation to intervention-oriented research that questions the communication dynamics of actors involved in the One Health approach. He studies international public health as a subject undergoing profound change, considering that human health can only be guaranteed if animals and our ecosystems are healthy.
Addressing systemic diseases between social sciences and biomedicine. Research questions and ongoing projects
Speakers: Catherine Cavalin is a research fellow in sociology at CNRS at Cermes3 (Center for Research, Medicine, Science, Health, Mental Health, Society). Her interdisciplinary work draws on sociology, contemporary history, economics, and statistics. It focuses on social inequalities in health and the history and sociology of knowledge relating to systemic diseases of "unknown" origin in medicine and epidemiology.
Alain Lescoat is a university professor and hospital practitioner in the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology at Rennes University Hospital and the University of Rennes. He coordinates the Reference Center for Rare Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Diseases in Adults in Northern, Northwestern, Mediterranean, and Guadeloupe (CeRAINOM) in Rennes.
3. The Interaction Between Research, Decision-Making, and Civil Society
: The experience of a transdisciplinary working group in Brazil
Speaker: Jean Paul Metzger, ecologist at the University of Sao Paulo and guest researcher at Mak'It, will talk about his work and the BiotaSynthesis project, which involves both the academic sector and members of the government in addressing health and environmental issues. He will highlight the importance of synthetic approaches to health and the environment in promoting dialogue between science and policy, particularly public policy on
prevention.
- Maintenance
- Full intervention
The role of eco-citizen institutes in raising awareness about pollution: Reconnecting scientific and citizen knowledge about environmental health.
Speakers:
Philippe Chamaret, chemist and director of the Fos Eco-Citizen Institute
Viviane Thivent, elected representative of Narbonne and promoter of the Aude Eco-Citizen Institute
Yan Philippe Tastevin, anthropologist at the CNRS, leader of the Transdisciplinary Observatory of Environmental Change in Sébikotane-Diamniadio (Senegal)
Sofia Bento, sociologist at the University of Lisbon, head of participatory research for the Observatório Hommes Milieux d'Estarreja (Portugal)
Christelle Gramaglia, sociologist at INRAE's UMR-G-EAU in Montpellier, author of a book on citizen experiences and measurements of contamination.
Eco-citizen institutes are initiating new ways of conducting research that are not only validated by scientific publications, but also spark curiosity in other areas. Contrary to the idea that science must necessarily be disconnected from common sense in order to achieve objectivity, this seminar will aim to consider the conditions for reconnecting measurements and perceptions in collaboratively defined computational spaces. How, on the contrary, can we make sense of situations of industrial contamination, together? The other objective of this seminar, which lays the groundwork for a longer-term reflection, will be to consider ways of better articulating scientific and citizen knowledge with regulatory practices—for more effective and precautionary public action in the field of environmental health.
- Interviews
- Full intervention
Risques environnementaux et sanitaires dans les communautés contaminées : expériences des citoyens et expériences de détection
Speaker: Christelle Gramaglia is a sociologist specializing in environmental sciences. Her research focuses on the controversies surrounding the friction between sensitive experiences and the measurement of industrial pollution. She is also interested in the epistemological and political changes promoted by participatory and citizen science.
What impact does pollution have on people living near industrial sites? What are the additional constraints on their daily lives? How do they cope and what can their contribution to sensing and monitoring pollution be—for a more socially robust knowledge about environmental and health risks?
The Port Environmental Monitoring Platform in Cotonou, Benin
Speakers: Gauthier Bobigny, IRD researcher at the Center for Biology for Population Management (CBGP), and Tasnime Adamjy, PhD student in sociology at the CBGP.
In the Autonomous Port of Cotonou in Benin, the Port Environmental Monitoring Platform was officially inaugurated at the end of 2021. It is the first laboratory dedicated to monitoring and supporting the management of invasive species to be established in an African port. Its implementation
s the result of numerous interactions between academic and non-academic partners and is a prime example of how scientific research can be put to work to address societal challenges.
- Maintenance
- Full intervention
Persistent pollutants: between research and the implementation of public prevention policies in California
Speaker: Patrick Allard, Professor of Genetics and Environmental Health at the Institute for Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and guest at the Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT)
Pesticides or forever chemicals (PFAS) are often presented as posing less of a toxicological hazard and being less persistent in the environment than older generations of chemicals. In this presentation, we will review some of the emerging toxicological evidence on these two types of chemicals and discuss the challenges and limitations of their regulation, particularly in the California context.
Interview with Patrick Allard
Full intervention
Raising awareness of occupational and environmental cancers
Session organized by the ExposUM Institute in collaboration with the Health and Society Forum
In this session, Sylvain Bertschy will present the action research project conducted by the Scientific Interest Group on Occupational and Environmental Cancers in Vaucluse (GISCOPE 84).This is an interdisciplinary research and action program involving medical and paramedical staff, researchers, and occupational health and prevention professionals. Its objective is to generate knowledge about carcinogenic risks linked to work and the environment, to support eligible patients in obtaining recognition of their illness as an occupational disease, and to promote exposure prevention and training.
Speaker: Sylvain Bertschy is a researcher in history who joined the Norbert Elias Center in 2024 as a junior professor at the University of Avignon. He leads the research and teaching program "Toxicities and Citizenship" (ToxCit), which aims to understand how historical changes in work and production, particularly their chemical intensification, have contributed to the process of "toxication of ecosystems and bodies" and how, in turn, this process is challenging historical forms of the social and health welfare state.
https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/visibiliser-les-cancers-professionnels-et-environnementaux
Humanities, Social Sciences, and Pesticides: Expanded Research-Intervention Communities
- Fabienne Goutilleis a lecturer in Ergonomics (the science of work organization) at the University of Clermont Auvergne. She co-edited the book " Exposition aux pesticides. Ce qu’en disent les sciences humaines et sociales ."
- Nadege Degbelo is a postdoctoral researcher in sociology at the LISIS laboratory. She co-authored several articles in the aforementioned book.
The discussions focused on the Expanded Research-Intervention Communities and approaches in occupational toxicology that draw on knowledge and models from toxicology, occupational medicine, and ergonomics (work organization). This presentation will be illustrated by several field studies, including one conducted among seasonal workers in the agricultural sector.
You can read an article co-written by the two speakers here.
Embedded video:
4. Presentation of Exposum Projects
Joint Presentation of the ROBOPUSA / ZAMBA Project (2023)
The Robopusa project, presented by Julien Claude, a researcher in statistics and evolution, focuses on diseases transmitted by rodents and the impact of agricultural intensification and pesticide use in Southeast Asia.
The Zamba project, presented by Julio Benavides, ecologist researcher and coordinator of the IRD's One Health knowledge community, analyzes rapid landscape changes and their effects on vectors and zoonotic pathogens in the Pantanal and Cerrado regions of Brazil.
The two project leaders, winners of the 2023 cohort, will talk with participants about the challenges of interdisciplinarity and collaboration with actors in the field, in order to encourage discussion and the sharing of experiences.
Link: https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/msh-sud/presentations-des-projets-exposum-robopusa-et-zamba
Embedded video:
Presentation of the Wa3ve Project (2025)
The Wa3ve project aims to develop a "low-tech" and "smart science" approach that combines bioinformatics and conventional biology to create systems for detecting antibody responses to infectious agents and even autoantibodies.
This presentation will demonstrate how this approach can be used to easily implement detection of "niche" pathogens or multiantigenic analyses that provide valuable insights from immunological, microbiological, and even epidemiological perspectives. Is this an approach that could be applied to your projects?
Speaker: Antoine Gross