Call for expressions of interest in membership in the scientific risk assessment Advisory Structure of Scientific Committees and database of experts

(2008/C 245/05)

This call is addressed to scientists who wish to be considered for membership in the Advisory Structure of the European Commission in the fields of consumer safety, public health and the environment. The Advisory Structure of scientific committees and experts is established by Commission Decision 2008/721/EC which is available on the following site:

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/call_expression_en.htm

The Advisory Structure on scientific risk assessment in the areas of consumer safety, public health and the environment includes the following:

The role of the Scientific Committees and the Pool is to give the Commission high quality and independent scientific advice, when requested, on non-food matters related to consumer safety or risks to public health or to the environment. The Committees also draw the Commission's attention to specific or emerging problems falling within their remit. The work of the Advisory Structure is based on the principles of excellence, independence and transparency.

In parallel, the Commission intends to establish a database of experts in order to facilitate access to a very broad range of expertise to support the work of the Advisory Structure.

Composition and remit of the Advisory Structure

The SCCS, the SCHER and the SCENIHR will each consist of a maximum of 17 members and may associate, at their own initiative, up to 5 scientific advisors from the Pool to contribute to a committee's work on specific issues. These associated members participate in the activities and deliberations concerning the subject considered with the same functions, responsibilities and rights as the members of the Committee. Members of the Pool may also be called upon by the Commission to replace on a permanent basis members of the Scientific Committees who resign or whose membership is terminated. Members of the Pool may be included in the activities of different working groups, in the provision of rapid advice requested by the Commission, or in thematic workshops/scientific meetings. The number of scientific advisors in the Pool at any time is decided by the Commission based on its needs for scientific advice.

Members of the Advisory Structure are appointed by the Commission on the basis of their expertise in one or more of the fields of competence and collectively cover the widest possible range of disciplines. The fields of competence are set out in Annex I of Decision 2008/721/EC.

Members are appointed to the Scientific Committees for a term of three years and may not serve more than three consecutive terms. They remain in office until they are replaced or their appointments are renewed. Scientific advisors are appointed to the Pool for a period of five years and their appointment may be renewed.

Candidates may wish to apply for inclusion in the database of external experts on health, safety and environmental risk assessment. The database option is indicated on the application form. Database-only applicants will be accepted on a continuous basis. These external experts may be invited to participate in the work of the Scientific Committees on an ad hoc basis, on specific issues, as members of working groups or on the occasion of hearings and workshops. The 10 years experience mentioned below for members of the Scientific Committees and the Pool is not required in this case.

Overall, interested scientists may apply for membership in: (i) the Scientific Committees; and/or (ii) the Pool; and/or (iii) the Database of external experts.

Eligibility

Applicants must have:

This call for expressions of interest is open to scientists from Europe and elsewhere.

Selection criteria

Preference will be given to candidates who possess:

Selection procedure

The selection procedure will consist of three stages:

The selection board/s will be composed of representatives of the Commission services responsible for policy and legislation in the areas of consumer and product safety, public health, the environment and scientific research. The board/s will be chaired by an independent externally-appointed senior scientist/s. Each expression of interest will be assessed individually against the selection criteria by at least two members of the selection board. In its selection process, the Commission will consider the following: experience and scientific background; independence (potential conflicts of interest); representation from different geographic regions and gender balance.

Appointment of members

The Commission will appoint the members of the Scientific Committees and the Pool from the list of candidates established by the selection boards. No member may be appointed to more than one committee. The Commission may appoint a candidate to a committee other than the one for which he or she applied if this committee needs the candidate's expertise, and provided the candidate agrees. Scientists not appointed to one of the Scientific Committees nor to the Pool of Advisors shall be included in the database of external experts.

The names of the appointed members of the Advisory Structure shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the European Commission's website.

Independence

The members of the Advisory Structure are appointed on a personal basis. Applicants are required to include a declaration of commitment to act independently of any external influence and a declaration of any interests which might be considered prejudicial to their independence. They will be asked to confirm that, if appointed, they will agree to make annual declarations of interest knowing that these will be made public.

Workload and indemnities

Applicants should be prepared to attend meetings on a regular basis, to actively contribute to scientific discussions, to examine documents and to make comments during meetings of Committees and their working groups, to attend workshops and hearings on invitation and act as ‘chairs’ and/or ‘rapporteurs’ of working groups, on an ad hoc basis. Most of the working documents are in English and the meetings are also conducted in English. Applicants should take into account that meetings in general involve preparatory work. It is estimated that each scientific committee will meet in plenary sessions between five and ten times per year. Members involved in working groups will need to attend more meetings. Candidates should be willing to work with electronic methods for the management and exchange of documents.

Members of the Advisory Structure and the external experts will be entitled to an indemnity related to their participation in the meetings of the committees and for serving as a rapporteur on a specific question. The indemnities are provided for in Annex III of Decision 2008/721/EC. Members will also be entitled to travel and subsistence allowances, in accordance with the rules laid down by the Commission.

Application procedure

Starting on the 20 September 2008, or soon thereafter, interested scientists are invited to fill out and submit the online application form which includes a curriculum vitae and a list of publications as attachments. The application form requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 which may be downloaded from:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

The announcement for the application procedure and the application form are available at the internet site below.

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/call_expression_en.htm

The closing date for submitting applications for membership in the Advisory Structure is 31 October 2008. Only online applications submitted via the Internet above will be considered.

Please note that registration in the Database of experts will remain permanently open (no deadline set). Applicants registered in the database will be expected to update the information requested every two years.

An application will be deemed admissible only if it includes:

Supporting documents may be requested at a later stage. All expressions of interest will be treated confidentially. The Commission will inform the candidates of the result of the selection procedures as soon as possible.