The Paris Risk Group brings together social scientists working for or with organisations involved in risk assessment and management. Its overall goal is to promote the use of social sciences alongside more traditional scientific disciplines; eventually to reconsider traditional procedures of risk assessment in order to integrate a wider range of evidence, including the social sciences.
Its purpose is to exchange experiences relative to the use of social sciences in the production of risk assessments, in the broader context of risk management, and to share methods and tools and experiences across organisations.

The Paris Risk Group operates as a network of representatives of different organisations and of social scientists, involved or interested in food safety, occupational health and safety, and environmental health. It has the following functions:

• Identify and share best practices and "success stories"
• Identify needs for further social research in relation to food safety, occupational health and safety, and environmental health
• Build and maintain a network: identify relevant experts; collate information about organisations’ current work areas and individuals’ interests and expertise; and hold regular (annual) meetings
• Create a pool of shared knowledge on methodology and tools
• Communicate on the added value of introducing social science research in risk assessment and other activities within the remit of included organisations
• Establish a ‘call for help’ function
• Promote longer-term knowledge transfer on common topics
• Identify, assess and eventually publish existing unpublished research
• Bridge the gap between academic and agencies’ research