Home>Jean-Noël Jouzel
Jean-Noël Jouzel
CNRS Research Professor, HDR
Centre for the Sociology of Organisations (CSO)
Research Interest(s): Environmental health, Occupational health, Production of ignorance
Discipline(s): Sociology
Research Group(s): Public Policy and Transformations of the State; Law, Norms and Regulation; Knowledge, Science and Expertise Program
Biography
Jean-Noël Jouzel studies environmental health and occupational health issues related to industrial development. Combining science studies, the sociology of public policy, and the sociology of social movements, his research sheds light on the social mechanisms that contribute to perpetuating ignorance about the health conditions caused by environmental pollution. His research focuses on the production of scientific knowledge, the role of medicine, and the medical and administrative processes involved in recognizing diseases linked to occupational exposure to toxic substances.
His current research focuses on pediatric diseases caused by exposure to pesticides. He leads the PestiPériNat project, funded by Gis Gestes and the Fondation de France, which explores the reasons why these conditions are under-recognized under the Pesticide Victims Compensation Fund established in France in 2020: the failure of affected families to exercise this right, difficulties faced by specialists treating these conditions (pediatric oncology, pediatric neurology, pediatric surgery) to explore their possible environmental aetiology, and obstacles to the generation of scientific knowledge and its translation into legal terms.
He teaches a course on the political sociology of environmental health at Sciences Po’s School of Public Affairs and a course on research methods in the Master’s program in sociology.
He is a member of the French Comité Consultatif National d'Ethique, expert for the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail. At the CSO he co-leads the “Knowledge, Science, and Expertise” track and the rewriting seminar. In the Department of Sociology, he is a member of the Master’s Program Academic Committee.
EDUCATION
2018
Habilitation (professorial thesis) in Sociology, Sciences Po - Paris (guarantor: Madeleine Akrich)
Dissertation title: “L’usage contrôlé des pesticides. Sociologie d’un mythe d’action publique” [The controlled use of pesticides: Sociology of a public action myth]
2006
PhD in Political Science, UMR 5194 PACTE/Science Po Recherche, Political Studies Institute (IEP) - Grenoble, Pierre Mendès-France University (advisor: Claude Gilbert)
Dissertation title: “Une cause sans conséquences : comparaison des trajectoires politiques des éthers de glycol en France et en Californie” [A cause without consequences: Comparing the political trajectories of glycol ethers in France and California]
2002
DEA (M.Phil) in Political Sociology and Public Policy Analysis, Political Studies Institute (IEP) - Paris (advisor: Pierre Lascoume)
Master’s degree (Magistère) in Modern Humanities, Paris X Nanterre University / École Normale Supérieure - Cachan
Agrégation in Economic and Social Sciences
2000
Master’s degree in Sociology, Paris X Nanterre University / École Normale Supérieure - Cachan
1999
Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Paris X Nanterre University / École Normale Supérieure - Cachan
Professional Background
Research director (2020 - present)
OTHER ACTIVITIES
- President CID 53 du CNRS, Commission interdisciplinaire « Sciences en société » (2023-...)
- Co-organiser of the CSO’s writing revision seminar (2018 - present)
- Co-leader of the Knowledge, science, and expertise research programme at the CSO (with Renaud Crespin, 2017 - present)
- Member of the Inserm’s expert committee on “Health effects of pesticides” (2018 - 2020)
- Member of Santé publique France’s [French National Public Health Agency] scientific council on “Residents neighbouring farm crops, pesticides and health” (2017 - 2020)
- Member of the High Council for Public Health’s commission on environmental risks (2017 - 2020)
- Appointed member of the INRA (CSS-SESG) scientific commission on economic, social, and management sciences (2015 - 2019)
- Member of the ANSES’ (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety) working group "Agricultural workers and pesticides” (2012 - 2016)
Teaching
Sciences Po
Risk and expertise: An introduction to the sociology of health and the environment (Master’s programme in Sociology, School of International Affairs)
EHESS
- Health, work, environment: The health effects of industrialisation, from knowledge to recognition (Master’s programme “Knowledge in societies: Health, medicine, and social issues”)
publications
- JOUZEL, J.-N. et PRETE, G. (2026), « Enquêter sur une épidémie silencieuse. Le (non-)recours au Fonds d’indemnisation des victimes de pesticides pour les maladies pédiatriques », Revue des politiques familiales et sociales (156), p. 105-113.
- JOUZEL, J.-N. et PRETE, G. (2025), « Les expositions résidentielles aux pesticides : une cause perdue ? », Écologie & Politique, 71(2), 43-57.
- BRUNIER, S., JOUZEL J.-N. et PRETE G. (2024), « Médecine et dépendances : comment la « pathologie professionnelle » a trouvé sa place à l’hôpital (1930-2020) », Sociologie du travail [En ligne], 66 (3).
- BRUNIER, S., JOUZEL J.-N. et PRETE G. (2024), « La raison populationnelle. L’institut universitaire de pathologie professionnelle de Lyon dans le « tournant épidémiologique » de la santé au travail (1950-2020) », Le Mouvement Social, 286(1), 53-72.
- JOUZEL, J.-N. et PRETE, G. (2024), L’agriculture empoisonnée. Le long combat des victimes des pesticides, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.