The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts who can serve as members of an WHO expert group to develop a guideline on consumption of tropical oils. This “Call for Experts” notice provides information about the guideline development group (GDG) in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Background
In response to a call from the 58th World Health Assembly (May 2005), the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Guidelines Review Committee (GRC) in 2007 with the purpose of developing and implementing procedures to ensure that WHO guidelines are developed in ways consistent with internationally recognized best practices, emphasizing the appropriate use of systematically reviewed available evidence.
To implement the strengthening of evidence-informed nutrition guidance, and in addition to convening experts in GDGs to address a particular topic, the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) coordinates the work to develop a series of guidelines on topics related to healthy diets.
Following the release of a series of the WHO guidelines, including those on saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake and total fat intake, WHO is now planning to develop a guideline on the consumption of tropical oils such as palm oil and coconut oil. This is in response to the need for guidance particularly in the context of replacement of industrially produced trans fat.
Functions of the GDG
The GDG will provide technical advice to WHO on the development of a guideline on consumption of tropical oils, including:
- The scope of the guideline and key questions (in PICO format) that will guide the undertaking of a systematic review of evidence;
- The selection and prioritization of important outcomes for decision-making and developing recommendations;
- The examination and interpretation of the evidence with explicit consideration of the overall balance of risks and benefits;
- The formulation of recommendations and supporting remarks, taking into consideration the quality of evidence generated and compiled as well as diverse values and preferences, balance of benefits and harms, resource implications, priority of the problem, equity and human rights, acceptability and feasibility; and
- The identification of research gaps.
Operations of the GDG
The GDG will convene on a virtual meeting platform (such as zoom or MS teams). The member must be able to commit to attending scheduled meetings and reviewing documents between meetings. Meetings and review requirements will be scheduled in advance. In addition, members may be asked to engage in ad-hoc technical discussions by email or short conference calls. Meeting documents will be available only in English, and meetings will be conducted in English. No honoraria will be provided.
Essential required qualifications of experts
The GDG will be interdisciplinary, with members bringing a diverse set of technical expertise, skills, and experience to the issue of tropical oil consumption.
- Advanced university/college degree in human nutrition, epidemiology, biology, biochemistry, food technology, analytical chemistry, environmental health, food and nutrition regulation, or other related scientific fields.
- Experience in relevant fields. Particularly experience in work on lipids / fatty acids, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
- Recent, relevant scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals on tropical oil-related topics.
- Good working knowledge of the English language, both in writing and speaking, as meetings will be conducted in English only.
- Capability to contribute to the preparation of scientific documents and to work in an international environment with scientists from various disciplines.
- Leadership and/or participation in national or international scientific bodies, committees, and other expert advisory bodies relevant to the scope of this work.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the GDG, please submit the following documents by 23:59h Geneva time on 16 November 2023 to NFS@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for tropical oil GDG”:
- Curriculum vitae, including
- detailed education background;
- relevant work experience; and
- list of peer-reviewed publications.
- Completed Declaration of Interest (DOI) form
- The DOI form can be download here
- Signed confidentiality undertaking
- The document on confidentiality undertaking can be downloaded here
Please do not include reprints in your submission unless specifically requested later.
Criteria and process for selection of experts
Applications will be reviewed by a panel of individuals from WHO to assess whether the applicant meets the qualifications and has relevant expertise in the subject matter areas listed above. DOI forms will be reviewed. Any potential or perceived conflicts of interest disclosed in the DOI forms will be considered in the selection process. In addition to subject matter expertise, the selection of experts will also take into consideration diversity and complementarities of expertise, a balance of genders and balanced representation from WHO geographic regions. Representatives of commercial organizations may not serve as experts. They may be invited to attend part of the meeting as external resource persons, if required, but may not be present at the meeting when recommendations are being formulated. Selected experts will be invited to contribute only in their individual capacity as experts and will not represent their government, nor their institution. The names and brief biographies of selected experts will be published to the WHO website. Due to an expected high volume of applications, only selected individuals will be informed.
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to NFS@who.int well before the application deadline.