Each year, the ILSI Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) seeks broad input on emerging scientific issues that merit consideration for potential program development. You are invited to submit proposals on current or emerging issues in need of a focused, multisector, collaborative effort.
To ensure full consideration of your responses by the HESI Emerging Issues Steering Committee, please complete the 2009 HESI Emerging Issues Survey and forward it to Ms. Cyndi Nobles (HESI) by email or fax no later than Tuesday, September 2, 2008.
This request for proposals is intended to be distributed as broadly as possible. We encourage you to share the survey and consult with colleagues in other divisions/departments within your organization to identify emerging human health and environmental issues. You may submit as many emerging issues as you wish.
BACKGROUND
The Emerging Issues process represents HESI’s mechanism for identifying and acting upon emerging scientific issues of mutual concern to the public, scientific community, government agencies, and industry. EI Subcommittees are formed based on direct input from the HESI membership and constituency. Issues are identified via an annual survey of the membership and a broad cross section of the international scientific community. All submitted topics are reviewed by the HESI Emerging Issues Steering Committee in October of each year, and several priority topics are selected for presentation and discussion at the HESI Annual Meeting the following January. Once initiated, an EI Subcommittee refines its topic into a focused scientific program. Recent additions to the HESI scientific portfolio which evolved from the EI process include programs on evaluating epigenetic changes, emergence of animal alternative needs in environmental risk assessment, and risk assessment for sensitive populations.
SPECIFIC CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Although all proposals are welcome, HESI issues a specific call for proposals to explore the influence of obesity on the toxic potential of metabolically activated xenobiotic toxicity. See Attachment 1 of the EI Survey for more information.
THE HESI SCIENTIFIC MAP
The HESI Scientific Map is a useful aid in identifying emerging issues. See Attachments 2 and 3 of the EI Survey for more information about the HESI Scientific Map. You may find that your recommendations to HESI on current or emerging issues may be linked to the broad topics represented on the Scientific Map. If so, please include in the survey a description of the nature of the link between your recommended topic and the broad topic represented on the HESI Scientific Map.
ALL PROPOSALS ARE WELCOME, AND WILL BE CONSIDERED WITH EQUAL WEIGHT.
At your request, we will be happy to share the blinded results of the compiled survey with you.
Your participation in the annual HESI emerging issues survey is of utmost importance to us. Thank you in advance for sharing your ideas, as well as devoting time and effort to responding to this survey.
Please contact Nancy G. Doerrer at ndoerrer@hesiglobal.org (202-659-3306) if you have questions.