Final Report "Exploring the Frames of Altruistic Action":A comparative analysis of volunteers' engagement in British and French pro-asylum charities (Jan 2017-Dec 2019)

Over the last decades, in a context in which the living conditions of asylum seekers and refugees are becoming increasingly difficult, many charities have dedicated themselves to the support of these groups across Europe. A large part of the activities of these organisations depends on the involvement of volunteers who participate in altruistic actions such as: legal aid, advice and support in terms of access to services (housing, schools, welfare, etc.), language or educational support (in particular children's support), fundraising, therapeutic or moral support. This study focuses on the case of the volunteers engaged in the support of asylum seekers and refugees in order to explore questions which remain underexplored in the literature on collective action. This research project seeks to analyse what motivates volunteers to engage with charities that support asylum seekers and refugees, as well as how they define their engagement and reflect upon their experience. In particular, the study wants to analyse whether and how these actors distinguish between altruistic action and social or political protest. In doing so, it seeks to explore how the frontiers between different forms of engagement in society are constructed and negotiated. Looking at immigration and asylum politics 'from below', it also aims to analyse how public debates and policies on these issues are reflected in the forms of engagement in support of asylum seekers and refugees. The project is based on a comparative approach and on qualitative research methods: we will interview 140 volunteers with different profiles and who are active in two contrasted contexts (Britain and France). We will also interview key representatives of the main pro-asylum charities active in these two countries, and we will analyse press reports and charities' archives. We will undertake this empirical research in the cities of London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Paris, Lyon, and in the region of Lille-Calais. This will allow us to develop an in-depth analysis of why and how people engage in altruistic action in support of asylum seekers and refugees. This will also enable us to analyse whether differences in terms of the life trajectories and personal values of volunteers, of organisational cultures of pro-asylum charities, of national cultures of volunteering, of relations between civil society actors and public authorities, as well as of immigration and asylum politics lead individuals to define their engagement in different ways. This approach and these methods will give us new data and perspectives on the ways ideas that relate to altruism, solidarity, humanity, care, or compassion are constructed and experienced. They will also enable us to develop original perspectives on the consequences in civil society of policies and public debates in the field of immigration and asylum. This research is timely in a context of intense debates and rapid policy changes on immigration and asylum, both at the national and EU levels. It is also timely in a context of funding shortages to civil society organisations

Alternative treatments in wound healing in animals

Treating wounds on a patient is a daily work for veterinarians in small animals practice. Wounds are not so simple to treat as we might think. It is important to assess the correct wound category in order to apply the right treatment. Antibiotics became challenging due to the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance and so, alternative treatments started to emerge. In human medicine, people want to receive treatments which are the most natural as possible. Nowadays, Phytotherapy became more popular the last few years, even in veterinary medicine. Sea buckthorn is an ancient plant, very well-known remedy, since the dawn of time for its beneficial effects on the organism. In this study, we evaluated the effect of sea buckthorn oil on wound healing by second intention on rabbits, in comparison with Honeyderm, a product that is already on the market for veterinary medicine. The two products were applied on the same type of wounds but in different quantity per day and in comparison with a control one using saline solution. Histological examination highlighted better results in wounds treated with sea buckthorn oil. The cutaneous defects were filled with an abundant amount of immature fibrous tissue composed of large number of fibroblasts and new small capillaries, extracellular matrix and insignificant number of inflammatory cells. No significant differences were identified in the individuals of the control group and those of the Honeyderm group

EU-wide exposure data of 11 chemical substance groups from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies (2014–2021)

Funding Information: The authors would like to thank everybody who contributed to the HBM4EU Aligned Studies: the participating children, teenagers, adults and their families, the fieldworkers that collected the samples and database managers that made the information available to HBM4EU, the HBM4EU project partners, especially those from WP7 for developing all materials supporting the fieldwork, WP9 for organizing the QA/QC scheme under HBM4EU and all laboratories who performed the analytical measurements. We would like to acknowledge Sun Kyoung Jung from the National Institute of Environmental Research of South-Korea for providing the KoNEHS Cycle III results (crt adjusted). HBM4EU is co-financed under Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No 733032). The authors thank all principal investigators of the contributing studies for their participation and contribution to the HBM4EU Aligned Studies and the national program owners for their financial support. Further details on funding for all the participating studies can be found in the Supplemental Material, Table S12.As one of the core elements of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) a human biomonitoring (HBM) survey was conducted in 23 countries to generate EU-wide comparable HBM data. This survey has built on existing HBM capacity in Europe by aligning national or regional HBM studies, referred to as the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. The HBM4EU Aligned Studies included a total of 10,795 participants of three age groups: (i) 3,576 children aged 6–12 years, (ii) 3,117 teenagers aged 12–18 years and (iii) 4,102 young adults aged 20–39 years. The participants were recruited between 2014 and 2021 in 11–12 countries per age group, geographically distributed across Europe. Depending on the age group, internal exposure to phthalates and the substitute DINCH, halogenated and organophosphorus flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), cadmium, bisphenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), arsenic species, acrylamide, mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol (total DON)), benzophenones and selected pesticides was assessed by measuring substance specific biomarkers subjected to stringent quality control programs for chemical analysis. For substance groups analyzed in different age groups higher average exposure levels were observed in the youngest age group, i.e., phthalates/DINCH in children versus teenagers, acrylamide and pesticides in children versus adults, benzophenones in teenagers versus adults. Many biomarkers in teenagers and adults varied significantly according to educational attainment, with higher exposure levels of bisphenols, phthalates, benzophenones, PAHs and acrylamide in participants (from households) with lower educational attainment, while teenagers from households with higher educational attainment have higher exposure levels for PFASs and arsenic. In children, a social gradient was only observed for the non-specific pyrethroid metabolite 3-PBA and di-isodecyl phthalate (DiDP), with higher levels in children from households with higher educational attainment. Geographical variations were seen for all exposure biomarkers. For 15 biomarkers, the available health-based HBM guidance values were exceeded with highest exceedance rates for toxicologically relevant arsenic in teenagers (40%), 3-PBA in children (36%), and between 11 and 14% for total DON, Σ (PFOA + PFNA + PFHxS + PFOS), bisphenol S and cadmium. The infrastructure and harmonized approach succeeded in obtaining comparable European wide internal exposure data for a prioritized set of 11 chemical groups. These data serve as a reference for comparison at the global level, provide a baseline to compare the efficacy of the European Commission's chemical strategy for sustainability and will give leverage to national policy makers for the implementation of targeted measures.publishersversionpublishe

Harmonized human biomonitoring in European children, teenagers and adults: EU-wide exposure data of 11 chemical substance groups from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies (2014–2021)

HBM4EU is co-financed under Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No 733032).As one of the core elements of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) a human biomonitoring (HBM) survey was conducted in 23 countries to generate EU-wide comparable HBM data. This survey has built on existing HBM capacity in Europe by aligning national or regional HBM studies, referred to as the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. The HBM4EU Aligned Studies included a total of 10,795 participants from three age groups: (i) 3,576 children aged 6-12 years, (ii) 3,117 teenagers aged 12-18 years, and (iii) 4,102 young adults aged 20-39 years. The participants were recruited between 2014 and 2021 in 11-12 countries per age group, geographically distributed across Europe. Depending on the age group, internal exposure to phthalates and the substitute DINCH, halogenated and organophosphorus flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), cadmium, bisphenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), arsenic species, acrylamide, mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol (total DON)), benzophenones and selected pesticides was assessed by measuring substance specific biomarkers subjected to stringent quality control programs for chemical analysis. For substance groups analyzed in different age groups higher average exposure levels were observed in the youngest age group, i.e., phthalates/DINCH in children versus teenagers, acrylamide and pesticides in children versus adults, and benzophenones in teenagers versus adults. Many biomarkers in teenagers and adults varied significantly according to educational attainment, with higher exposure levels of bisphenols, phthalates, benzophenones, PAHs, and acrylamide in participants (from households) with lower educational attainment, while teenagers from households with higher educational attainment have higher exposure levels for PFASs and arsenic. In children, a social gradient was only observed for the non-specific pyrethroid metabolite 3-PBA and di-isodecyl phthalate (DiDP), with higher levels in children from households with higher educational attainment. Geographical variations were seen for all exposure biomarkers. For 15 biomarkers, the available health-based HBM guidance values were exceeded with the highest exceedance rates for toxicologically relevant arsenic in teenagers (40%), 3-PBA in children (36%), and between 11 and 14% for total DON, Σ (PFOA + PFNA + PFHxS + PFOS), bisphenol S and cadmium. The infrastructure and harmonized approach succeeded in obtaining comparable European-wide internal exposure data for a prioritized set of 11 chemical groups. These data serve as a reference for comparison at the global level, provide a baseline to compare the efficacy of the European Commission's chemical strategy for sustainability, and will give leverage to national policymakers for the implementation of targeted measures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Doctors without borders : Sociology of a critical institution

Première ONG de secours médical d'urgence, MSF est de ces organisations qui ont institutionnalisé la critique. Les courants sociologiques les plus opposés y ont vu une activité « extra - ordinaire» dont les ressorts seraient essentiellement idéels. Mettant à mal cette hypothèse unificatrice, MSF permet d'étudier l'ancrage social de ces pratiques. On étudie la construction par ses leaders d'une position d'avant-garde dans le champ humanitaire. Dotée d'un centre de recherche, MSF dispose de sa grammaire - entendue ici dans un sens métaphorique et de ses « grammairiens ». L'un dans l'autre, elle peut déployer de magistraux coups critiques comme l'arrêt de sa collecte pour le tsunami. L'analyse des dispositions et du charisme critiques du « Roi René )) des MSF, Rony Brauman, s'avère indispensable à la compréhension des « instances» associatives dédiées à cette activité. Elle repose aussi sur une répartition incertaine des espaces de travail et un ensemble de techniques de fragmentation du pouvoir. Après avoir analysé le «jeu du rappel à l'ordre )), on verra les MSF composer avec les attentes critiques de l'ONG. Ces différentes adaptations éclairent un cens critique qui n'est pas sans effet sur les opérations de MSF. La critique étant indissociable de l'exercice du pouvoir, son étude donne la clef d'une gouvernance interne ponctuée de« crises» et nourrie d'attachements puissants à MSF. Croisant sociologie des relations internationales, du militantisme et de la critique à l'appui de cette normalisation épistémologique, cette thèse repose sur une série d'entretiens et de discussions informelles, différents fonds d'archives et de nombreuses observations de type ethnographique.Médecins Sans Frontières is the first international medical emergency aid NGO and an organization that has institutionalized critical activity, a phenomenon that this thesis seeks to understand. The most opposite sociologies have studied criticism as an extra-ordinary practice which would be a matter of pure ideas. In contrast with this common frame of analysis, we explore its social rooting. We study the construction of an avant-garde position inside the humanitarian arena. With its center of reflexion, MSF has its own « grammar» (in a metaphoric sense) and its own grammarians. This specificity and its position allow it to play critical blows like the stop of its fund raising for the tsunami at the top of the mobilization (2005). We distinguished three devices underpinning criticism inside the NGO. Amazingly, the first one is a man: Rony Brauman. Understanding the institutionalization of criticism implies studying « Roi René» critical charisma. The second one, instances dedicated to criticism, can be considered as his heritage. The third one is an uncertain division of labor sometimes sustained by power fragmentation technologies. After analyzing the «game of the call to order», we then focus on different adaptations of MSF members to the NGO's critical expectation, examining the cost of criticism and its effects. Critique being inseparable from power, its study sheds light on MSF 's governance and its members ' strong commitment. This sociological normalization of critical practices, between sociology of international relations and collective action, is based on a corpus of interviews and discussions, various archive collections and ethnographical observations

« They could be us ». Acteurs et logiques d’engagement contemporaines dans les pratiques de bienfaisance auprès des demandeurs d’asile en Angleterre.

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Chapitre 7. Déstabilisations et réévaluations des cadres du mérite chez les bénévoles engagés auprès des réfugiés au Royaume Uni

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