The Park project in a nutshell
PARK – European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals – is an initiative of the European Union, with the participation of Member States and associated countries, in collaboration with public partners (European and national risk management agencies, universities, public research bodies) which aims to support the development and the implementation of a program of research and innovation activities related to chemical risk assessment.
It is a 7-year public-public partnership financed to the tune of 400 million euros within the framework of Horizon Europe and co-financed by the European Commission to the tune of 50%. As part of the implementation of the project, Public Health France has been appointed as the pilot of the national hub.
Launched last May in France as part of the French presidency of the European Union, the European Partnership for Chemical Risk Assessment (PARC) brings together nearly 200 scientific partners from 28 countries and agencies from European Union.
Its objective is to design a risk assessment of new generation chemical substances in order to better protect health and the environment. It also aims to establish a center of excellence for research and innovation in the field of chemical risk assessment at European level.
Public Health France participates in the overall governance of the PARC project as:
- Signatory member of the consortium agreement
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Co-leader of Work package 4 on the monitoring of exposure to chemical substances…
- National contact point in charge of facilitating the exchange hub with stakeholders
What are the objectives of this national hub?
It responds to the objective of the European Commission to create, alongside the scientific governance of the project, a space bringing together high-level stakeholders to strategically guide the partnership and set research and innovation priorities in terms of chemical risk assessment.
Its work will also aim to contribute to the development of synergies with national initiatives, and to feed the reflections around the projects presented.
Its main objectives:
- ensure that the scientific orientations given to the projects correspond to national priorities and, if necessary, be proactive in guiding certain projects,
- meet the objectives of the partnership in terms of data accessibility and dissemination of results,
- discuss stakeholder proposals,
- identify the points of the partnership project on which to communicate,
- adapt the communication plan to the concerns of the public.
First step: co-construction of the charter setting the terms of organization and conduct of work
The participation of external stakeholders as well as all the organizational and management methods of the hub will be part of a charter which was the subject of initial discussions during this first meeting. Once finalized, it will be signed by all the members and will serve as a basis for discussions and work.
Who are the members of the hub?
The call for expressions of interest launched last spring made it possible to select the stakeholders interested in the partnership and who make up this French hub. The response files were examined by a joint Anses and Public Health France committee.
The selection of the parties was made on the basis of the elements provided in the letter of intent, the adequacy of the fields of competence with the PARC subjects related to chemical risk, the necessary multidisciplinarity and plurality of the group to deal with the all the issues raised within the hub.
Today, the hub brings together all the French actors involved and interested: Ministries (Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, General Directorate of Health, General Directorate of Labour, Ministry of Agriculture and of Food, Ministry of Ecological Transition), 15 institutions and 17 external stakeholders, its composition may be completed on the basis of work within the project:
