The Interfaces Research Area at the ExposUM Institute

The ExposUM Institute aims to establish a leading center for research, education, and science-society engagement focused on the exposome—that is, the socio-environmental determinants of human health.

What is the exposome?
The exposome refers to the totality of an individual’s lifetime exposures to environmental and social factors that influence an individual’s health, as well as the onset, progression, and severity of infectious and noncommunicable diseases in humans. In this sense, the exposome is the environmental counterpart to the genome.

Thus, research on the exposome can just as easily focus on environmental pollution, water, air, or soil quality, vector-borne diseases, access to healthcare, patterns of settlement, health inequalities, public health policies, and so on…

To learn more about the concept of the exposome, you can listen to this podcast from France Culture’s *La Méthode Scientifique*: Podcast on the exposome

Introduction to the Interfaces Research Area and the Team

The “Interfaces” research area at the ExposUM Institute aims to foster a culture of promoting research findings at the interface between science and society. 

Thus, at the academic level, the Interfaces research area aims to strengthen a broad interdisciplinary approach centered on the exposome by fostering opportunities for dialogue between the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, geography, etc.), the medical and environmental sciences, the engineering sciences, and so on.

In addition, the Interfaces initiative aims to strengthen collaborations between researchers in the academic community in Occitanie, civil society (associations, NGOs, producer groups, patient associations, SCOOP) and public sector actors (Regional Health Agencies [ARS], metropolitan elected officials, Occitanie regional stakeholders, and local authorities) through transdisciplinary initiatives, by identifying and supporting synergies with other health/environment initiatives involving academic, public, and civil society actors.

The Interfaces research cluster’s team grounds its activities in regional approaches, fostering new collaborations between public and academic stakeholders while engaging civil society—for example, by creating new spaces for interaction between science and decision-making and by translating societal demands into research priorities.

The Interfaces research group is based at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme SUD (MSH SUD,UM Support and Research Unit 2035) and draws on its resources: general services and administration, the Image Center, the Incubator for Expanded Interdisciplinarity (ICI-ELA), the Science-Society Platform, etc. 

The activities carried out under the Interfaces research area are conducted in close collaboration with stakeholders involved in the Occitanie Region’s RIVOC Key Challenge, particularly through the V2MOC project, which aims to better understand vector-borne infectious risks in the context of urban greening in the metropolitan areas of Montpellier and Toulouse, in collaboration with the MAK’IT Institute for Advanced Studies (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions) at the University of Montpellier, the ImpresS (Impact of Research in the South) team at CIRAD, and other research teams.

The Interfaces division also collaborates with the University Innovation Hub (PUI) atUM innovation stakeholders and the private sector to promote the economic value of innovations.

The Team

The Interfaces research area is led by Aurélie Binot¹, who is also a member of the ExposUM Executive Committee.

Tiphaine Lefebvre, Project Assistant for the Exposum Interface Pillar, was hired by the DPS and has been based at MSH SUD since September 2023.

Mariline Poupaud, Scientific Support Officer, was hired by the DPS and has been based at MSH SUD since January 2024.

Finally, to support the team in its efforts to mentor and facilitate the cohort of winning ExposUM project leaders, Alexandre Guichardaz, a consultant in collaborative engagement, is working with the team for 20% of his working time.

Activities Conducted Under the "Interfaces" Research Area

The activities of the Interfaces research area can be organized into four main areas:

1. Support for the cohort of project leaders funded by the ExposUM Institute
2. Promoting interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary initiatives arising from projects related to the exposome
3. Facilitating an ongoing seminar to stimulate interdisciplinary discussion on the exposome
4. Support for interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary regional initiatives in the Occitanie region

1. Support for the ExposUM project leaders cohort

The Interfaces initiative supports teams working on projects funded by ExposUM to promote—if deemed relevant by the project leaders—interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary processes within the projects, as well as to foster collaboration among project teams. This support is offered to all successful teams that wish to participate. In 2023, this represents 14 potential teams (7 research projects, 5 doctoral nexuses, 2 fellowships), to which will be added the winning teams from subsequent years.
Learn more about community engagement…

Various workshops and meetings are offered on a range of topics:

• Theme 1: Building Community
• Theme 2: Sharing Research Methodologies and Approaches in Global Health, One Health, and Health and the Environment
• Theme 3: Developing Skills in Interdisciplinary Practice
• Theme 4: Strengthening the Science-Policy-Society Link within Projects

Various types of activities are offered:

2. Support for interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary initiatives

Call for Expressions of Interest

To promote transdisciplinary projects with a local impact and foster networking among researchers and civil society actors, the ExposUM Institute is offering a new support program for research teams within the I-Site community and their nonprofit partners, designed to highlight their research on topics related to the exposome, environmental health, or global health, focusing on regional issues at the science-society interface.

Events must include at least one outreach activity (conference, event, film or documentary screening) to highlight the initiative at the science-society interface and facilitate the sharing of transdisciplinary experiences across the I-SITE.

This call for expressions of interest, “Science/Society Interactions,” supports action research initiatives that strengthen collaborations between I-SITE members and civil society (local and regional governments, associations and cooperatives, citizen groups, and government agencies such as the ARS, etc.). This support is intended to assist and promote transdisciplinary action research initiatives in the design phase (funding for exploratory activities to enable a future action research project), in progress (funding for internships, surveys, and dissemination events), or completed (promotion of the initiative).

The supported events will include at least one outreach activity to highlight the transdisciplinary initiative and share experiences regarding the drivers and barriers to transdisciplinarity at the I-SITE level.

Call for Proposals for Regional Projects

A call for proposals for regional project incubation, aimed at identifying and supporting projects addressing health and environmental issues with a significant regional impact, was open until June 2024. It is now closed.

3. Ongoing Seminar

The overall objective of the ongoing seminar is to foster the emergence of new research questions at the intersection of health and the environment, by providing tools for approaching interdisciplinarity and reflecting on the links between research and society. Through monthly sessions featuring researchers from diverse backgrounds, the aim is to bring together a research community focused on the concept of the exposome and health-environment issues, and to stimulate reflection on the practice of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.

The presentations scheduled as part of this seminar will help stimulate participants’ thinking along three main lines:

1. The Concept of Environment: These sessions will focus in particular on the contrast between a “pathogenist” conception of the environment as a reservoir of pathogens and a “salutogenist” conception, in which the environment is understood in terms of socio-ecological functions that help regulate the emergence of pathogens.
2. The Limits of the Ambition for Integration: These sessions will examine the proposed approaches to interdisciplinarity that integrate biological, social, and environmental factors, as well as ways to navigate different epistemological and methodological frameworks
3. 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.

Upcoming sessions of the ongoing seminar

If you would like to be notified of upcoming sessions of the ongoing seminar, please send an email to Mariline Poupaud or Tiphaine Lefebvre to be added to our mailing list.

Past Sessions of the Ongoing Seminar

Previous sessions were recorded and are available online.

• The Exposome: Epistemological Challenges of Integration in Environmental Health
  Seminar Theme: “The Limits of the Ambition for Integration”
  Speakers: Élodie Giroux and Yohan Fayet

• Embodied Ecologies: Residents’ Sensory Understanding of Their Exposure to Chemicals in Urban Life and Their Strategies for Reducing It
  Seminar Theme: “The Concept of Environment” June 26 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
  Speaker: Anita Hardon, health anthropologist and biologist, Wageningen University, Netherlands

• Health and Environmental Challenges in the Face of Public Ignorance and Inaction
  Seminar Theme: : “The Limits of Integration Ambition” and “Interaction Between Research, Policy, and Social Actors”
  Speaker: Emmanuel Henry, political scientist and sociologist, professor at Paris Dauphine-PSL University and researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in the Social Sciences (IRISSO, CNRS, INRAE)

• Interactions Between Scientific Knowledge and Policy Decision-Making in Health and the Environment: The Experience of a Transdisciplinary Working Group in Brazil – November 22 , 2023, in collaboration with Mak’it.
  Seminar Theme: “Interaction Between Research, Policy, and Social Actors”
  The speaker, Jean Paul Metzger, a guest ecologist from Mak’it, presented the center BiotaSynthesis center he directs. This center brings together the academic sector and government officials to address transdisciplinary health-environment issues in São Paulo, Brazil. He emphasized the importance of integrative approaches to health and the environment in fostering dialoguebetween science and policy and enabling the co-creation of public prevention policies.

• Reconnecting Scientific and Citizen Knowledge on Environmental Health: The Role of Eco-Citizen Institutes for Pollution Awareness – December 14 , 2023
  Seminar Theme: “Interaction between Research, Policy, and Social Actors ”
  This session examines the role of Citizen Institutes for Pollution Knowledge—third-place research hubs—which are based on three pillars: the production of localized knowledge, the joint addressing of environmental and health impacts, and participation. This session offered reflections on ways to better integrate scientific and citizen knowledge with regulatory practices, to foster more effective and precautionary public action in the field of environmental health.
  Speakers: Philippe Chamaret, chemist and director of the Fos Eco-Citizen Institute; Viviane Thivent, elected official from Narbonne and promoter of the Aude Eco-Citizen Institute; Yann Philippe Tastevin, anthropologist at the CNRS and leader of the Transdisciplinary Observatory on Environmental Change in Sébikotane Diamniadio (Senegal); Sofia Bento, sociologist at the University of Lisbon and lead researcher for a participatory study at the Observatoire Hommes Milieux in Estarreja (Portugal); and Christelle Gramaglia, sociologist at the UMR-G-EAU at INRAE in Montpellier and author of a book on citizen-led experiments and measurements of contamination.

• Interdisciplinarity between the humanities and social sciences and the life and environmental sciences: barriers and drivers within a scientific community focused on infectious and vector-borne risks – December 19 , 2023, in collaboration with Kim Rive and RIVOC – Seminar theme: “The Limits of the Ambition for Integration”
  During this session, the speaker shared his analyses drawn from a sociological study on the barriers and drivers of interdisciplinarity between the humanities and social sciences and the life and environmental sciences. To help explain the scarcity of effective interdisciplinary collaborations within projects—despite the interest shown by stakeholders in both the life and environmental sciences and the humanities and social sciences—the speaker drew on sociological definitions of “professions” and applied them to the scientific profession. This presentation does not provide a ready-made solution for conducting interdisciplinary research, but it sheds light on barriers that should be discussed within any collaborative project.
  Speaker: Jérémy Rollin, researcher in political sociology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montpellier.

• The Cotonou Port Environmental Monitoring Platform, Benin: A Multi-Stakeholder Initiative for Managing Biological Invasions Linked to International Maritime Traffic. A Concrete Example of Translating Research into Practice at the Science-Society Interface – February 8 , 2024
  Seminar Theme: “Interaction Between Research, Policy, and Social Actors ”
  During this session, the speakers shared their experiences regarding the creation of the Port Environmental Monitoring Platform in the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, Benin, which was officially inaugurated at the end of 2021. This Platform is the first laboratory dedicated to monitoring and supporting the management of invasive species—particularly rodents that carry vectors and pathogens—to be established within an African port. Its implementation is the result of numerous collaborations between academic and non-academic partners and serves as a prime example of how scientific research can be put into practice to address societal challenges.
  Speakers: Gauthier DOBIGNY and Tasnime ADAMJY, UMR CBGP (IRD), researchers in evolutionary ecology.

• Persistent Pollutants: From Research to the Implementation of Public Prevention Policies
  Seminar Theme: “Interaction Between Research, Policy, and Social Actors”
  March 26 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., in collaboration with Mak’it
  Speaker: Patrick Allard, Mak’it guest, Professor at the Institute for Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), researcher in genetics, epigenetics, developmental biology, and environmental health.

4. Local Initiatives and Networking

Policies and Public Actors

The Interfaces team participates in the “Health Ecology” working group, initiated by the Montpellier Metropolitan Area and the City of Montpellier; this working group also brings together numerous research institutes, a hospital, and public agencies. The Interfaces team is particularly involved in Working Group No. 3, which focuses on monitoring and evaluating the impacts (using the “impact pathways” methodology) of new forms of governance and collaboration between scientists and the public sector on health and environmental issues.

The Interfaces division works closely with the officials in charge of the Occitanie Regional Health and Environment Plan 4 (led by the Occitanie Regional Health Agency (ARS) and the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning, and Housing (DREAL)) to ensure synergy among our initiatives.

From time to time, the Interfaces team supports international teams working at the science-policy interface on health and environment issues. For example, with support from CIRAD’s ImpresS team, researchers and a government official from Brazil involved with the Biotasynthesis center were able to develop an “ex ante” impact assessment for their project (see the report online).

This spring, in collaboration with the Center for Land Policy, they are organizing the fifth edition of the Campus Anthropocène/Spring School’s experimental educational program, “Healthy Territories,”which will take place in Montpellier from March 31 to April 4.

Researchers and representatives of civil society (elected officials, technical staff, students, organizations, artists) will work together in the Montpellier area to examine the ins and outs of livability in the face of challenges related to territorial expansion and environmental preservation, within the context of climate change and pressure on local resources (water, air, soil). As part of this program, we propose to explore the question: How can we live healthy lives in the Anthropocene within the Montpellier region? More specifically, we will focus on issues related to water and rivers (water resources, water quality), nature-based solutions to climate change and associated vector-borne risks (greening to combat urban heat islands, tiger mosquitoes, and infectious diseases…), and the relationships between humans and non-humans (wild animals, invasive alien species, and associated health risks) within a One Health framework.

This spring, in collaboration with the Center for Land Policy, they are organizing the fifth edition of the Campus Anthropocène/Spring School’s experimental educational program, “Healthy Territories,” which will take place in Montpellier from March 31 to April 4.

Researchers and representatives of civil society (elected officials, technical staff, students, organizations, artists) will work together in the Montpellier area to examine the ins and outs of territorial livability in the face of challenges related to territorial expansion and environmental preservation, within the context of climate change and pressure on local resources (water, air, soil). As part of this program, we propose to explore the question: How can we live healthy lives in the Anthropocene within the Montpellier region? More specifically, we will focus on issues related to water and rivers (water resources, water quality), nature-based solutions to climate change and associated vector-borne risks (greening to combat urban heat islands, tiger mosquitoes, and infectious diseases…), and the relationships between humans and non-humans (wild animals, invasive alien species, and associated health risks) within a One Health framework.

Support for Two Regional Initiatives in 2024

Mobitiques Action Research Project on the Prevention of Tick-Borne Diseases

ExposUM supports the Mobitique project. The Interfaces team organized, hosted, and facilitated five 3-hour workshops bringing together researchers in tick ecology (Vectopôle Sud), researchers in the humanities and social sciences (education, social psychology), representatives from the ARS (vector control), associations (CTIQUE, Graine Occitanie), and a representative of livestock farmers (director of the Groupement de Défense Sanitaire Occitanie). This pilot project is aligned with the goals of Occitanie’s Regional Health and Environment Plan 4.

This incubation process led to an action plan for 2025, spearheaded by the environmental education association Le Graine. This project aims to develop and implement educational initiatives designed to increase citizen engagement with tick-related risks in their local communities, as well as to test one or more scientific research questions in the field of sociology. The goal is to foster growing citizen engagement while scientifically measuring and evaluating the impact of public awareness campaigns on behavioral changes through a dedicated research protocol.

The Initiative on Citizen-Led Institutes for Pollution Awareness: Support for the Aude Institute

The Eco-Citizen Institute for Pollution Monitoring in the Aude received support from ExposUM in 2024. This institute was inspired by the Ecocitoyen Institute for Pollution Research in Fos-sur-Mer, which, since the 2010s, has brought together academics and local residents who work together to conduct research addressing questions about the long-term consequences of rapid industrialization that began in the late 1960s and has been regularly reignited. These institutes promote the integration of different fields of knowledge—particularly in the area of environmental health—and serve as regional initiatives that can facilitate the implementation of preventive measures in environmental health, as part of a broader transformation of regional dynamics.

Social science training courses have been offered to volunteers in the Aude department. The courses are available online.

A festival was organized in November 2024 to help residents of the Aude region learn about the critical environmental health issues in their area in a fun and engaging way. The festival brought together experts, activists, scientists, and artists to offer a rich and informative experience.

Support for Two Regional Initiatives for the Year 2025

Two projects have received funding from ExposUM for 2025

The Rivière project, “Infectious Risks in the City: Applied Health Ecology of Interactions Between Nutrias and Humans,” studies human-nutria interactions in the Lez River basin and focuses on the health risks associated with leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease transmitted by these rodents. The project employs an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to assess these risks.

The Vaxinter project examines how to integrate different disciplines to address the questions raised by vaccination at the intersection of science and society. This project involves two researchers in the humanities and social sciences to foster a dialogue between the biomedical sciences and the humanities and social sciences. A study will be conducted in experimental economics to explore the impact of media coverage and vaccination on healthcare workers. Research will also be carried out in communication sciences to strengthen the ties between science and the public.

Consumer Initiatives

The Interfaces team participates in and organizes events for the general public. In 2024, the ExposUM Institute will be featured at the Science Festival on October 12 during Lunaret Zoo Day.

1. Aurélie Binot, who has joined MSH SUD as deputy director, is responsible for coordinating Research Area 2, “Science-Society Interfaces,” at the ExposUM Institute and is a member of the ExposUM Executive Committee; she has been appointed to these roles in her capacity as a CIRAD researcher recognized in this field. Within the framework of Research Area 2,UM draw on the action research programs of MSH SUD and the staff assigned to them, allowing this UAR to carry out initiatives on behalf of the ExposUM Institute. ↩︎