Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol Labelling
Deadline: 15 October 2022
The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol Labelling (WHO/ Europe TAG-AL). This Call for experts provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Background and functions
The TAG-AL will serve as an advisory body to the WHO/Europe on scientific and technical issues related to strategies, activities, programs and data and evidence in the field of alcohol labelling. The TAG-AL will advise on building evidence for alcohol labelling, including the specific task of developing evidence on the impact of health warning labels and producing specific guidance to inform decisions of Member States
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO/Europe, the TAG-AL shall have the following functions.
- To provide independent evaluation of the scientific technical and strategic aspects of alcohol labelling, with a specific focus on health warning labels;
- To identify and describe current and future challenges in the development of solid evidence on labelling of alcoholic beverages, including at implementation, monitoring compliance, economic, legal and evaluation level;
- To advise WHO in the development of evidence and policy recommendations on alcohol labelling, particularly with a special focus on the best available evidence and relevant research in the area of health warning labels;
- To advise WHO on the development and carrying out of research projects on alcohol labelling, including data collection procedures and analyses;
- To support WHO in the advancement of the international research agenda on alcohol labelling; and
- To advise WHO on strategic directions to be prioritized and on the development of global strategic documents in alcohol labelling.
Composition
Members must be free of conflicts of interest. Membership is personal, and no members will represent their employer or an organization with which they are affiliated. See more information below.
Operations of the TAG
The TAG-AL shall normally meet once each year. However, WHO/Europe is likely to convene additional meetings during the first years of the TAG’s existence. Meetings may be held in person (at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen or another location, as determined by WHO/Europe) or virtually, using online meeting options. In addition, the advice and feedback of the TAG-AL members may be sought over email.
- Members will be appointed to service for a period of 2 years and shall be eligible for reappointment.
- TAG-AL members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses 2 consecutive meetings, WHO/Europe may end his/her appointment as a member of the TAG-AL.
- Active participation is expected from all TAG-AL members, including in online meetings and interaction over email. Members may be required to review strategic documents and meeting documentation in advance of meetings to provide their views for consideration by the TAG-AL.
- WHO/Europe shall determine the modes of communication of the TAG-AL.
Who can express interest?
The WHO/Europe TAG-AL will be multidisciplinary with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the areas mentioned below. Up to 25 members may be selected.
WHO/Europe welcomes expressions of interest from researchers, public health experts, healthcare professionals, innovators, artists, designers, lawyers, journalists, psychologists, behavioral scientists and policymakers representing a broad range of expertise relevant to alcohol labelling. Experience and expertise in the following areas are particularly desirable:
- proven experience in research methods to assess the impact of alcohol labelling and specifically alcohol health warnings
- health policy, especially substance control policies
- health literacy with a specific focus on alcohol
- marketing, advertising and promotion
- attention and risk perception
- social psychology and behavioral research
- design and product label design
- behavioral and choice architecture
- international law with a specific focus on international trade law and WTO agreements
- sub-regional law, with a specific focus on EU law
- implementation and knowledge translation in decision-making processes
- track record of development evidence on labelling information in alcohol and other relevant fields (e.g. tobacco, sugar-sweetened beverages)
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the WHO/Europe TAG-AL, please submit the following documents by 15 October 2022, 24:00 (CEST) to neufeldm@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the WHO/Europe TAG-AL”:
- a cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria (please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity and therefore, do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer);
- a tailored curriculum vitae; and
- a signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) for WHO Experts form, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO/Europe Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed.
Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment
Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of an AG is, among other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise, motivation and other criteria).
All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO/Europe secretariat to enable WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant AG.
The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO/Europe in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria:
- relevant technical expertise;
- experience in international and country policy work;
- communication skills; and
- ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations.
The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low- and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by WHO/Europe, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an AG will be subject to the proposed member returning the countersigned copy of these 2 documents to WHO/Europe.
WHO/Europe reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest, to annul the open call process, and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO’s action. WHO/Europe may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, to disband an existing TAG, or to modify the work of the AG.
WHO/Europe shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
WHO/Europe may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet.
AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of AG members to participate in AG meetings will be covered by WHO/Europe in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.
If you have any questions about this Call for experts, please write to neufeldm@who.int well before the applicable deadline.