Patrick du Jardin and Valérie Masson Delmotte are the new President and Vice-President of the Ethics in Common Committee

Institutional news 4 April 2024
The Boards of Trustees of CIRAD, INRAE, IFREMER and IRD, the four research organizations behind the Ethics in Common Committee, recently chose the committee's new President and Vice-President. As of 4 April, it will be presided by Patrick du Jardin, with Valérie Masson-Delmotte as Vice-President.
Patrick du Jardin © M. Houet, University of Liège / Valérie Masson Delmotte © F. Rhodes, CEA
Patrick du Jardin © M. Houet, University of Liège / Valérie Masson Delmotte © F. Rhodes, CEA

Patrick du Jardin © M. Houet, University of Liège / Valérie Masson Delmotte © F. Rhodes, CEA

These new nominations follow the completion of the terms of Michel Badré and Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, respectively President and Vice-President up to and including 3 April 2024.

The INRAE-CIRAD-IFREMER-IRD Committee on Ethics in Agricultural Research covers ethical questions raised by research activities, in France and overseas, in the fields of food, agriculture, the sea, the environment and sustainable development, particularly those that concern the relationships between science and society.

Patrick du Jardin, an agronomist, is currently Professor and Head of Unit at the University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty. As well as being a teacher-researcher, he is also an expert and lecturer in the fields of agricultural science and bioengineering, biosecurity and bioethics. He was a member of the INRA-CIRAD-(IFREMER) Ethics Committee from 2009 to 2016, and Vice-President of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms from 2012 to 2015. He specializes in plant physiology and nutrition, and is currently working the new EU Regulation on Fertilizing Products, on behalf of the Belgian Ministry.

Valérie Masson-Delmotte is CEA Director of Research at the Climate and Environmental Science Laboratory/Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (University of Paris Saclay). She is committed to fundamental research in the field of climate science, knowledge sharing, and climate change studies. She co-chaired the physical science working group (Working Group I) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), from 2015 à 2023, and is currently a member of the French High Council on Climate (2018-2024). She has also a member of the French National Advisory Ethics Council (CCNE) since 2022.