Dr Paul Whaley
Honorary ResearcherResearch Overview
My work is about improving how we conduct and interpret scientific research in environmental health. This includes:
- developing guidance documents and study evaluation tools for primary and secondary research (in particular, non-animal test methods and systematic reviews)
- supporting the creation and use of open data standards, to make scientific evidence easier to find, evaluate, and reuse
- designing evidence-to-decision frameworks, that help people not only "follow the science" but consistently and transparently account for all important factors when making a decision
Current Research
I have five areas of interest in the domain of human environmental health:
- Improving primary research: I develop guidance on doing, reporting, and evaluating primary studies in an effort to improve the rigour of basic research. One collaboration is with VKM (Norwegian Food Standards Agency), developing instruments for assessing human-relevance and potential for bias in non-animal studies, to potentially improve their utility in chemical risk assessment.
- Conducting better evidence syntheses: I develop guidance on doing and evaluating study designs intended to survey, monitor, and make sense of bodies of evidence. This includes evidence mapping and surveillance methods with the US National Toxicology Program, and work with the WHO on systematic reviews of the health impacts of occupational environmental exposures.
- Promoting open data standards: Fundamentally, this is about using computers to make research work better. I work on developing and promoting use of data standards, from ontologies through to exchange standards, supporting FAIR data provision, and so forth. I have applied for a 3 million USD grant from US NIH for creating semantic study planning and authoring tools for environmental health research. I have also been working with the European Food Safety Authority on data exchange standards for food systems and agriculture research.
- Improving the use of evidence in decision-making: This is about helping decision-makers ensure they account consistently for all relevant factors when making decisions. I have been working with collaborators including the US EPA to adapt the GRADE Evidence-to-Decision framework for environmental health contexts. And we have had 3-year VKM project on flow of information through chemical risk assessment and regulatory risk management just recently approved.
- Building a healthier research ecosystem: I am creator and Editor-in-Chief of Evidence-Based Toxicology, in my opinion the first full-blooded open science journal for environmental health. The job of the journal is to develop and implement interventions on the publishing side that incentivise and support a better, more rewarding, more sustainable research ecosystem.
External Roles
- Research Fellow at the Evidence-Based Toxicology Collaboration
- LEC representative to WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network
- Editor-in-Chief, Evidence-Based Toxicology
- ONTOX Stakeholder Advisory Board
- Advisory Board, JBI Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative
Systematic Mapping Methods for Chemical Risk Assessment
02/01/2017 → …
Research
Systematic Review Methods for Chemical Risk Assessment
09/10/2013 → …
Research
Practical Challenges in Assessing Indirectness and the Implications for Integrating Multiple Streams of Evidence
Invited talk
Raising the standard of published systematic reviews: a case study from chemical risk research
Invited talk
Facilitating the Conduct of Systematic Reviews: Opportunities for Utilisation of Artificial Intelligence Tools
Invited talk
US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (External organisation)
Membership of committee
European Chem Agcy ECHA, European Chemicals Agency (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Environment International (Journal)
Editorial activity
International Labour Organization (External organisation)
Membership of committee
EFSA/EBTC scientific colloquium on evidence integration in risk assessment
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Workshop on bisphenol A (BPA) hazard assessment protocol (Event)
Membership of committee
4th International Symposium on Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Laboratory Animal Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Diagnosis, Monitoring and Prevention of exposure related non-communicable diseases (DiMoPEx)
Visiting an external academic institution
Second Meeting of the WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network (Event)
Membership of committee
European Food Safety Authority
Visiting an external academic institution
European Chem Agcy ECHA, European Chemicals Agency (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Implementing Systematic Review Methods in Chemical Risk Assessment
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
First International Conference of the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
World health organisation (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Cereals 2016
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Environment International (Journal)
Editorial activity
European Commission
Business Engagement
Evidence Based Toxicology Collaboration (External organisation)
Member of an organisation
European Conservatives and Reformists
Visiting an external academic institution
Environment International (Journal)
Editorial activity
Implementing systematic review techniques in chemical risk assessments
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Winner, Dean's Award for PhD Excellence
Prize (including medals and awards)
Winner, Impactful Researcher Award
Prize (including medals and awards)