Jacques Grondin
Director for Social Sciences

After working 9 years in mineral exploration (base and precious metals in the Arctic, Québec, and Africa), J. Grondin completed his Master's degree in medical anthropology in 1988 as well as his Ph.D. curriculum and exams in social anthropology. He undertook a first synthesis of his training while science director for a mining and mineralogical museum.

Since 1990, he has been working on the health and social impact assessment of development projects (mining in particular) and on the social construction of risks in environmental health. From 1994 to 1998, he was coordinator of the Avativut/Ilusivut Research Program in Labrador and Nunavik, a research program funded by the Medical Research and Social Sciences Research Councils of Canada. The objectives of this multidisciplinary research program were to evaluate and weigh the effects of environmental contaminants on Arctic fauna and Inuit populations, and to develop efficient risk management measures. Since 1995, he is member of the Nunavik Nutrition and Health Committee, a regional Inuit organization set up in 1987, whose goals include the dissemination of scientific information to the population and the tailoring of northern research initiatives in order that they meet Inuit needs and expectancies.

He is also social sciences research coordinator for the federal/provincial St. Lawrence Health Effects Program. This work entails undertaking original research, stimulating the development of new perspectives for health impact assessment, and developing links with other major Canadian multidisciplinary environmental health research initiatives. In the course of his work, he leads various research integrating social science methodology to the study of environmental health issues, and serves as scientific advisor for different Indigenous groups.

His main research interests over the course of the last 10 years have been psychosocial impact assessment as well as risk communication, perception and management. The focus of this work has been on food safety and security, zoonotic diseases and environmental contaminants, in particular in relation to aquatic environments.
 
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