Issued on: 27 July 2023
Deadline: 15 September 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research. 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
Rapid advances in the life sciences and technologies, their diffusion and convergence with other disciplines hold great promises to improve our health, our societies and our environment. Emerging and existing technologies can bring transformational opportunities that can play a critical role in working towards WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work to achieve the triple billion targets. However, advances and developments in life sciences and associated technologies can pose risks, including safety and security risks that can cause harm, accidentally, unintendedly or deliberately, to humans, animals, plants and our environment.
In September 2022, WHO issued the Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences: mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research. The guidance calls on WHO Member States and other stakeholders to mitigate biorisks and safely govern dual-use research, which has a clear benefit but may pose risks that include safety and security risks caused by accidents, inadvertent and deliberate misuse to cause harm to humans, other animals, agriculture and the environment.
Preventing and mitigating these risks is a shared responsibility and involves many stakeholders with different capacities. To support WHO in advising Members States and other stakeholders on biorisk mitigation and the governance of dual-use research, and to implement the global guidance framework in different contexts, WHO is seeking to establish a Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research to advise the Secretariat on the work in this field.
Functions of the Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research
In its capacity as an advisory group to WHO, the Technical Advisory Group shall have the following functions:
- To provide, review and make recommendations to WHO on the scientific, technical and strategic aspects relevant to the monitoring and mitigation of biorisks and advances in the life sciences and related technologies, the governance of dual-use research and the responsible use of the life sciences;
- To identify gaps, challenges, strengths and opportunities and recommend priorities to WHO and the technical relevant unit “Emerging Technologies, Research Prioritisation and Support (EPS)” on the scientific, technical and strategic aspects relevant to the anticipation, prevention and mitigation of biorisks, the governance of dual-use research and the responsible use of the life sciences;
- To advise on the work and activities of the WHO project of “Ensuring the responsible use of the life sciences: mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research”, part of the EPS unit; and
- Upon request by WHO, to advise WHO on a reporting mechanism relevant to the mitigation of biorisks, the governance of dual-use research and the responsible use of the life sciences.
Operations of the Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research
The Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research shall normally meet at least once each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. Meetings may be held in person (at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference. The working language of the group will be English.
Who can express interest?
The Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the anticipation, prevention and mitigation of biorisks, the governance of dual-use research and the responsible use of the life sciences. Approximately 15-20 members may be selected.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from individuals with expertise in one or more of the following disciplines:
- oversight of dual-use research and dual-use of concern (DURC), knowledge, information, methods, products or technologies;
- biorisk mitigation and management, biosafety and biosecurity;
- emerging areas of research and technologies in biology and the life sciences (for example, but not limited to, synthetic biology, genome editing, virology, infectious diseases, bioinformatics, neurosciences) and associated disciplines (for example, but not limited to, chemistry, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies);
- governance of emerging technologies;
- risk communication, disinformation;
- ethics, international law, policy and governance and other relevant social science domains, related to the responsible use of the life sciences, dual-use research and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response;
- foresight;
- monitoring and evaluation related to global health security;
- One Health approach to the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research, please submit the following documents by 15 September 2023, 23h59 Central European Summer Time (UTC + 2 hours) to responsiblesciences@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research”:
- 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. Therefore, do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer;
- Your curriculum vitae of maximum 2 pages; and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available here;
- In addition to the three above documents, which need to be sent to responsiblesciences@who.int, please complete and submit this online form.
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. 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, amongst 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 and 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 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 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, 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 to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO 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 may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.
WHO 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 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 in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.