Opening editorial. The Use of Social Sciences in Risk Assessment and Risk Management Organisations

This Special Issue of the European Journal of Risk Regulation is the result of an international workshop held in January 2013 in Paris, at the initiative of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) and the Center for the Sociology of Organisations (CSO). Following a survey conducted in 2011 regarding the use of human and social sciences in fifteen public organisations in Europe and North America in charge of risk assessment and/or risk management related to environmental and health issues, an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners from seven countries met to discuss the results of this survey and to compare experiences in the use of social sciences in country case studies. It was agreed to pursue this initiative by launching a network (known provisionally as the “Paris Risk Group”). This network comprises social scientists and representatives of various organisations involved in food safety, occupational health and safety, and environmental health in various European countries. The network’s overall goal is to promote the use of social sciences alongside more traditional scientific disciplines by sharing experiences on the use of social sciences in the production of risk assessments and in the broader context of risk management, as well as by sharing methods, tools and experiences across organisations