Notice of call for expressions of interest

Scientific and Technical Support – Various Scientific and Communication Profiles

Scientific and Technical Support in the area of the assessment of Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Biological Hazards and Chemical contaminants, Pesticides, Plant health, Genetically Modified Organisms for food and feed uses, Food Additives, Food Contact Materials, Food Enzymes, Food Flavourings, Feed additives, Novel Foods, Nutrition and Social Science

Objective of the call

The objective of this call for expressions of interest is to establish a list of individuals (natural persons) with scientific expertise to assist EFSA in carrying out preparatory work (including data related activities) in support of EFSA’s scientific and risk communication activities with the main focus on the areas of generic risk assessments and the assessment of applications for the authorisation of regulated products, in particular in the areas of Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Biological hazards and Chemical contaminants, Pesticides, Plant health, Genetically Modified Organisms for food and feed uses, Food Additives, Food Contact Materials, Food Enzymes, Food Flavourings, Feed additives, Novel Foods, Nutrition and activities in the area of Social Sciences. The delivered preparatory work will be reviewed by EFSA staff and/or ad hoc experts for its use in EFSA scientific outputs and communications.

Background information

Many food and feed related products require a scientific assessment to evaluate their safety and/or efficacy before risk managers can authorise them for the EU market. EFSA carries out these assessments to support EU risk managers in their decision-making. These so-called regulated products include substances used in food and feed (such as additives, enzymes, flavourings, novel foods and nutrient sources), food contact materials and pesticides, genetically modified organisms for food and feed uses, food-related processes and processing aids.

EFSA also carries out hazard (biological and chemical) and risk assessments on non-regulated products and hazard monitoring activities in the area of food and feed safety/efficacy, animal health and welfare, plant health and human nutrition.

Fields of expertise sought & examples of typical expected tasks

The following list contains examples of tasks that EFSA can entrust to selected candidates:

• Provide preliminary completeness check of dossiers, in compliance with EFSA administrative and scientific guidance documents and guidance from other organisations (e.g. OECD) that apply to EFSA risk assessment
• Perform specific activities to provide advice in relation to risk assessment (e.g. literature analysis, systematic review, supporting an expert knowledge elicitation, data validation, data extraction, data appraisal, data quality, data cleansing collation and processing, summarising and analysis)
• Methodological support in performing and/or appraising full or part(s) of literature reviews to support evidence-based scientific assessments
• Provide specific support on data collections from EU Member States (MSs) and other stakeholders via preparations for the annual opening of data collection and providing support during the data collections and after closure
• Prepare summaries and formulate key findings (uncertainties, preliminary conclusions, gaps,…) of submitted data/information
• Provide specific support in the preparation of drafts for specific parts of a risk assessment
• Perform specific activities in support of risk assessment (e.g. modelling, geospatial information analysis and processing, assessment of traceability data,…)
• Perform peer review activities on draft EFSA scientific outputs at different phases of risk assessment to adoption (focusing on the quality, completeness, consistency and accuracy)
• Support the preparation of public and/or targeted consultations and the preparation of related outcomes (e.g., technical reports)
• Provide ad-hoc support in specific cases (e.g. in relation to the preparation of input data to launch calls-for-data, in relation to specific meetings and/or scientific events)
• Provide expert advice in defining the project idea
• Provide expert advice on specific elements of the tender specifications
• Provide expert advice during the communication phase of the call, e.g. contribution at explanatory webinars, expert contribution to Q/As; prepare presentations and FAQ documents
• Provide an expert opinion about tenders or proposals received, limited to the individual’s field of expertise
• Provide expert opinion about the material submitted by the contractor/beneficiary for meetings; provide expert opinion/contribution during the contract/grant implementation meetings