Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate (M/F) – Well-being Metrics

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Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate (M/F) – Well-being Metrics Sintesi in italiano (traduzione automatica): L'organizzazione offre una borsa di studio per un progetto di dottorato interdisciplinare presso il Laboratorio per le Scienze del Clima e dell'Ambiente (LSCE) a Gif-sur-Yvette e il Laboratorio di Architettura, Cultura e Società alla Scuola di Architettura di Parigi-Malaquais. Il tema della tesi riguarda le questioni epistemologiche interdisciplinari relative ai metriche di benessere urbano, con un focus sull'epidemiologia basata sulle acque reflue. Il progetto mira a sviluppare un osservatorio di salute e benessere combinando scienze ambientali e scienze umane e sociali. È richiesta una laurea in scienze ambientali o un campo correlato. Le mansioni principali includono l'inventario e l'analisi comparativa delle metriche attualmente utilizzate, nonché il dialogo con le comunità accademiche e pubbliche per sviluppare indicatori integrati di benessere urbano. This PhD project is supported by a scholarship funded through the WHAOU project. The thesis will be conducted at the Laboratory for Sciences of Climate and Environment (LSCE) in Gif-sur-Yvette and at the Architecture, Culture, and Society Laboratory at the Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture. Thesis topic: "Interdisciplinary epistemological issues surrounding urban well-being metrics" Context: Wastewater-based epidemiology is developing approaches that link molecular and biological markers—detected and quantified in wastewater—to the health status, consumption patterns, and environmental exposures of a given population (Daughton, 2018; Vitale et al., 2021). More broadly, these approaches fall within the scope of urban geochemistry, a field that enables the application of methods—typically focused on natural environments—to urban contexts and health-related issues (Filippelli et al., 2012). At the same time, socio-economic well-being indicators (OECD composite indices, national observatories, "territorial well-being" initiatives) (Bouba-Olga, 2024) currently provide an increasingly used framework for understanding the quality of life in specific territories. However, these metrics remain incomplete and lack standardization—as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Boisson and Denis, 2026)—since they typically rely on objective, aggregated data while failing to capture the nuanced subjective and environmental dimensions of well-being, thereby highlighting the need for new data generation. This doctoral project is part of the WHAOU project (Well-being and HeAlth Observatory within Urban trajectories - https://egout.cnrs.fr/ ), funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the Priority Research Programme and Equipment (PEPR) for Sustainable Cities and Innovative Buildings. The interdisciplinary WHAOU project aims to develop a health and well-being observatory by combining approaches from environmental sciences (geochemistry, wastewater-based epidemiology) and the humanities and social sciences. The goal of Work Package 1, "Measuring Health and Well-being"—within which this thesis is situated—is to test a method for comparing geochemical and microbiological data measured in wastewater with socio-economic data, drawing on comparative epistemology to examine the commensurability of these metrics (Desrosières, 2003). Thesis project objectives: The thesis project proposes aligning these various metrics and their associated conventions, and fostering a dialogue between them. The project's hypothesis is that analyzing the substances and molecules circulating in the Paris sewer system—combined with an analysis of Parisians' social practices and the city's urban morphology—will provide greater insight into their quality of life, or even their well-being. The aim of this thesis is to initiate a disciplinary and cross-sectoral dialogue based on these two families of metrics, with the goal of developing integrated indicators of urban well-being that link living conditions, population health, and environmental pressures. To achieve this, the first step will be to inventory the metrics currently used in wastewater epidemiology alongside those from the humanities and social sciences. This inventory will then allow for a comparative analysis of the metrics, identifying criteria that render them comparable or determining the degree of heterogeneity that distinguishes them. This work will rely on ongoing discussions with the communities—including academics, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public—that use or develop these metrics. Given that the data are of different types and not directly comparable, the study site itself will serve as a shared object of inquiry and a mediating element. Within the framework of the WHAOU project, this site will comprise six Parisian districts (arrondissements) exhibiting varied characteristics regarding socioeconomic status, built density, access to amenities, and exposure to potential po Annuncio in inglese. Font