SETAC Board of Director Candidates 2027
The SETAC Board of Directors is pleased to present to all full SETAC members, a slate of candidates to join the board in 2027 for three-year terms. The Governance Committee evaluated expressions of interest from the membership and prepared the slate striving for a balance in competencies and personal characteristics, in accordance with the SETAC by-laws.
Learn more about the candidates below.
Anne Alix
Anne Alix is a regulatory affairs, risk management and ecotoxicology specialist with experience across industry, government and scientific organizations in France, Europe and globally. She has worked in plant protection products risk assessment for 25 years and has been deeply involved with SETAC throughout her career. She has chaired and presented at many SETAC meetings and has authored and reviewed several articles in SETAC journals. She has volunteered on several SETAC Europe committees, including the certification and finance committees. She is active in several SETAC interest groups, including the Biodiversity and Monitoring Interest Groups. In governance, Alix has served as SETAC Europe President and on the SETAC Board of Directors (formerly known as SETAC World Council).
Alix appreciates SETAC programs such as Interest Groups, branches, student groups, workshops and meetings, which provide forums for scientific discussion in a safe, inclusive and respectful format for scientists of all ages, affinities and affiliations. She appreciates SETAC’s strategic priority of advancing science-informed decision-making and is committed to SETAC values, especially integrity and inclusion. She hopes to use her leadership skills to help SETAC advance its priorities while staying true to its principles and values.
Alan Jones
Alan Jones is a senior aquatic ecotoxicologist with BASF Agricultural Solutions, where he focuses on the environmental safety of crop protection products worldwide. His expertise centers on endocrine disruption and sediments. Jones has been an active SETAC member since 2005. He has authored many articles in SETAC journals and has chaired and presented at SETAC meetings. He also co-chaired the steering committees of the Chemistry and Sediments Interest Groups. Jones is an avid SETAC volunteer and has served on several regional committees. For the last three years, he has served on the SETAC North America Board of Directors and the SETAC Board of Directors. On the global board, he served as treasurer for more than a year.
Jones is excited to apply for a second term on the SETAC Board of Directors. He believes he has much to contribute and is uniquely suited to continue as treasurer, having filled that role for more than a year. In that role, he successfully managed the society’s budgetary processes and helped guide the board through the financial processes that move the society forward.
Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo
Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo is a research scientist at the Spanish National Research Council. His research focuses on environmental microbiology and chemistry, with emphasis on bioavailability, biodegradation, persistence and risk assessment of organic contaminants in soil-water systems. He has a long-standing record of service to SETAC. He served on the SETAC Europe Council from 2011 to 2018, including roles as treasurer, vice president, president and immediate past president, and represented SETAC Europe on the SETAC World Council in 2016 and 2017. He has chaired or co-chaired several SETAC Europe annual meetings, including Seville 2010, SETAC SciCon 2022 and Seville 2024. Beyond SETAC, he has served as academic stakeholder representative to the EFSA Stakeholder Bureau and as a member of the CEFIC-LRI External Scientific Advisory Panel, contributing to science-policy dialogue on environmental and chemical risk.
Ortega-Calvo is interested in serving on the SETAC Global Board of Directors because SETAC has shaped a substantial part of his scientific and professional life, and he would like to give back to the society by contributing to its global governance, strategic direction and long-term sustainability. He is particularly interested in helping SETAC remain scientifically independent, globally balanced and attractive to new generations of members while strengthening its role as an international society that connects science, policy and environmental decision-making.
Veronique Poulsen
Veronique Poulsen is an experienced ecotoxicologist who has worked across the public and private sectors for 30 years, focusing on advancing environmental safety, robust risk assessment and science-based regulatory frameworks. Poulsen worked for 10 years at a French research institute and 11 years at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety. She joined L’Oréal as head of environmental safety in November 2017 and now serves as an ingredient innovation strategy leader. Poulsen has been highly involved with SETAC. She served on the SETAC Europe Board of Directors, chaired the SETAC Europe Science Committee from 2019 to 2022 and volunteered for the SETAC risk assessment certification program.
Poulsen is enthusiastic about serving SETAC because she recognizes how SETAC’s collaborative, multi-stakeholder environment bridges academia, government and industry and allows for meaningful advancements in ecotoxicology and chemical risk assessment. In a world of constant and accelerating scientific change, she believes collaboration is key to success and that SETAC has a major role to play worldwide. She hopes to bring to the board her dedication to fostering open dialogue, promoting cutting-edge scientific exchanges and ensuring that SETAC continues to provide a neutral, high-quality platform where sound science shapes future environmental policies and practices.
Ross Smith
Ross Smith has more than 40 years of experience as an environmental consultant. He has specialized experience in the response of aquatic biota to environmental changes in a wide variety of freshwater and estuarine habitats and in communicating environmental risk to government and community stakeholders. Smith is a trusted adviser to governments and multinational organizations across the global tropics. He has substantial experience in governance in the business and not-for-profit sectors in multiple countries and has been a director and board member for small to medium-size companies since 1996. At SETAC, Smith was actively involved in governance at the chapter, geographic unit and global levels from 2011 to 2019. He was a founding member of the SETAC Interest Group for Indigenous Knowledge and Values and is an active member of the SETAC Interest Group for Metals.
Smith expressed interest in re-joining the board as a way to give back to the society that has been enormously beneficial to his career. He is passionate about SETAC remaining both financially sustainable and clearly beneficial to its full global membership. Having worked internationally, he brings a unique perspective on the needs of practitioners striving to achieve environmental quality through science across geographies, jurisdictional types and socioeconomic strata.