Elvia's secondment at ECHA

I am Elvia Rufo, ESR14 in the PRORISK project. As part of my secondments, and referred by Dr. Roy Brouwer, I was offered the opportunity to join the team of economists at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki (Finland), part of the Risk Management II Unit in ECHA’s Directorate D4, as a trainee for 6 months (March-August 2022) under the supervision of Matti Vainio, Christoph Rheinberger and Heini Ahtiainen.

During my secondment in ECHA, I was involved in the SWACHE (Surveys on Willingness to Pay to Avoid Negative Chemicals-Related Health Impacts) project, an international research collaboration led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), involving also other regulatory bodies and research institutions. This project aims at an improved understanding of people’s preferences of the impacts from various health conditions and establish internationally comparable willingness to pay values to avoid negative health effects associated with chemical exposure. During my stay at ECHA, I worked my supervisors and Väinö Nurmi on a survey focused on reducing the risks of thyroid dysfunction. Currently, collaboration is taking place between the University of Waterloo, ECHA, the OECD and United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to develop a state-of-the-art benefit transfer methodology for health values with the data available from this project.

Taking part in this collaborative initiative during my secondment was an incredible opportunity for my PhD, since economic data is not easily accessible and is very time intensive to obtain. In addition, it was incredibly insightful and inspiring working alongside very well recognized and established researchers in the field of economic valuation and to be able to discuss with people with similar research interests. I am especially thankful for having participated in the SWACHE discussion sessions, for learning from and discussing with my supervisors and colleagues at ECHA, and for witnessing first-hand how the REACH regulation process works and how the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) and economic input supports this legislation.

Overall, it has been a great experience to be part of the ECHA traineeship programme and to learn from the people I have worked closely to during the 6 months of my secondment. I am also really excited for the coming steps of the SWACHE project and to continue my collaboration with this initiative to help understand people’s perceptions and preferences towards chemical exposure risks.

I would like to thank Roy Brouwer, Heini Ahtiainen, Christoph Rheinberger, Väinö Nurmi, Matti Vainio, as well as the Risk Management Units in ECHA and the SWACHE team, for this opportunity and for the valuable lessons I learnt from them. I am also thankful for the support from the EU Commission under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action – European Training Network (Project No.: 859891) during my secondment.

I would like to extend my thanks to the other ECHA trainees I met during my secondment for the good times we spent together and all we learnt from each other. Exploring the city of Helsinki and to get to know the Finnish culture together was a memorable experience.