The problem posed by the pervasive presence of PFAS in our environment and organisms is sprawling… Many laboratories in France are studying these synthetic substances, which are so persistent in the environment and organisms that they are nicknamed “eternal pollutants.” These research sites are currently scattered, and under the leadership of no fewer than six different CNRS research institutes.
To bring together these researchers from diverse backgrounds, Marie-Pierre Kraff, physical chemist at the Charles Sadron Institute of the CNRS and at the University of Strasbourg, and Guy Royal, professor of chemistry at the University of Grenoble Alpes, announced the creation of a research group (GDR) during a study day organized by the Mission for Transverse and Interdisciplinary Initiatives of the CNRS on October 6, 2025, a day on which Science and Future attended.
PFAS Research: “All actors are welcome”
In Europe, Belgium and Portugal, for example, already have well-structured networks. To connect with the booming international research scene, a rather special structure was needed, a research group, enabling decompartmentalization, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, which brings together research organizations beyond the world.
“ This is very important for us; it's about strengthening cooperation between socio-economic actors, so everyone must work together, not just academic laboratories. We must involve manufacturers and agencies. (health and environmental, editor’s note), NGOs, citizen associations, in short, all the actors involved, in one way or another, in the problem of PFAS, explains Guy Royal. All actors are welcome"This GDR reinforces a certain legitimacy of research to help scientific policies and the drafting of new legal texts.
What is a research group (GDR)?
The GDRs are formed around an emerging or structuring theme. There are currently just under 200 of them in France and they concern subjects as varied as wood sciences or health and sport. The aim is to bring together a scientific community around this theme and to encourage exchanges between partners from the public and private sectors. For example, there is a GDR on ultra-fast physics, GDR Ultrafast Phenomena, which focuses on phenomena at the attosecond, femtosecond and picosecond time scales, and for all states of matter, another on artificial intelligence applied to materials science, or another on the theme of polymers and oceans, Gold-Nano. The director of the GDR “Polymers and Oceans” listed the advantages of this interdisciplinary system for the CNRS news site in 2024: “ It's a very flexible collaboration system. The application is easy to put together and the administrative burden is low, allowing us to focus on leading the research. It also facilitates the creation of interdisciplinary projects.“.
Aggregate, break down barriers…
The acronyms and logos of universities and research units already dot the French map presented to the audience by MP. Krafft and G. Royal. The GDR's ambition is to add other research sites to the constellation of laboratories already identified. Marie-Pierre Krafft points out that some research sites already involved in PFAS are located close to their study area, in regions considered to be "hotspots" of declared PFAS pollution. This is the case of the Lyon region and of Grand Est where "is already taking place" a rapprochement between the field and research”.
The GDR will be the framework for meetings: scientific days, workshops to train young researchers, collaborative networks to respond to calls for tenders. The two researchers insist on scientific mediation, the dissemination of knowledge produced beyond the scientific circle: " it is about communicating knowledge beyond the scientific circle, to everyone, to the public, something that scientists do not always know how to do".
What research areas are affected by PFAS?
The Institute of Chemistry, it goes without saying, is primarily concerned when it comes to detecting, analyzing, studying supramolecular associations in the environment, remediation processes (decontamination techniques) of sites and substitutions by other molecules. Substitutions that industrialists and end users expect.
The Institutes ofEecology and environment, and of Biology, Engineering And Earth & Universe are already focusing on:
- the phenomena of bioaccumulation
- remobilization of PFAS which, during their destruction, can pass into a gaseous or aqueous state,
- their impacts on ecosystems,
- their toxicity in humans.
- the study of contamination routes
- processes for treating polluted water and effluents
- the design of detection and monitoring devices
The Institute Earth & Universe examines the transport of these molecules through the atmosphere, ocean, and hydrogeological systems. Dispersion on a global scale is proven by ice cores carried out in Antarctica which revealed the presence of PFAS at the poles as early as the 1950s!
Why use social sciences to understand PFAS pollution?
The Institute Human and Social Sciences is also mobilized. Why sociologists alongside researchers who tackle the material nature of these polluting molecules? The social sciences are " power plants when they analyze citizen mobilizations, environmental justice issues, governance processes,” explains Marie-Pierre Krafft. These sociologists have several roles in understanding industrial pollution such as PFAS: building a history of knowledge and ignorance surrounding this pollution, gathering the voices of populations exposed to pollution, co-constructing robust scientific protocols with epidemiologists that include all categories of populations, and also restoring the confidence of these residents and workers in scientific expertise.
Initiatives such as the Lyon Territory Eco-Citizen Institute, created on October 16, 2025, and the biomonitoring study on PFAS exposure in the Greater Lyon population are the result of joint work between sociologists, pollution scientists, and residents of Greater Lyon—several stakeholders working side by side. This breaking down of barriers is precisely the very philosophy of the emerging PFAS research group.
English 
French