Issued on: 20 February 2026
Deadline: 20 March 2026
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on Simulation Exercises and Action Reviews (SERTAG). This call provides information about the Advisory Group, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the selection process.
Background
Simulation Exercises (SimEx) and Action Reviews (AR), including Early Action Reviews, Intra-Action Reviews, and After Action Reviews, are structured, evidence-based mechanisms used to assess, validate, and strengthen prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery capacities for health emergencies. These approaches support continuous learning and system performance improvement across the health emergency management continuum.
SimEx and AR generate critical, actionable insights that inform policy development, operational planning, and resource allocation before, during, and after emergencies. These functions fall within the mandate of the Risk Analytics and Action Reviews (RAR) Unit in the Health Emergency Preparedness Department under the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE). SERTAG will act as an advisory body to WHO in this field.
Members of SERTAG will have a responsibility to provide WHO with high quality, well- considered advice and recommendations on matters described in the Advisory Group terms of reference.Functions of SERTAG
- Provide advice on the development and implementation of strategic plans for SimEx and AR at global, regional, and national levels.
- Recommend priorities for the overall SimEx and AR programme by providing independent insight into operations and methodologies.
- Advise WHO on strengthening SimEx and AR capacity at global, regional, and country levels.
- Support WHO in conducting global and regional SimEx and AR for high-stakes events, including pandemics and other public health emergencies.
- Guide the establishment of a global roster or network of experts for SimEx support, implementation, and evaluation.
- Provide recommendations on leveraging SimEx and AR findings to enhance emergency preparedness, response, and cross-border collaboration.
- Advise on large-scale reviews, meta-analyses, and multi-country action reviews.
- Recommend innovative approaches and methodologies to enhance SimEx and AR.
- Advise on measuring the impact of SimEx and AR within comprehensive emergency management programmes.
- Provide guidance on partnerships, collaboration, and resource mobilization to reinforce WHO’s leadership in this domain.
Operations of SERTAG
SERTAG will normally meet at least once a year. WHO may convene additional meetings as needed. Meetings may be held virtually or in person. Sessions may be open or closed as determined by the Chairperson in consultation with WHO.
Reports of each meeting will be submitted to WHO (Executive Director, WHE) through the Director of the Health Security Preparedness (HSP) Department. All recommendations are advisory in nature. WHO retains full authority over decisions and actions.
The working language of the Advisory Group will be English.
Who can express interest?
SERTAG will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to SimEx and AR in the context of (health) emergency management. Approximately 20 experts may be selected and they will serve in their personal capacities, with attention to geographical representation and gender balance.
They will be selected against the following (non-exclusive) criteria:
- relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy and emergency work;
- experience working in different countries and regions, in different settings;
- excellent communication skills; and
- the ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from emergency management professionals with expertise and a proven track record in the following areas:
- designing and implementing (inter) national emergency management strategies that include demonstrative experience in managing comprehensive SimEx programmes and/or AR;experience with public health emergencies or large scale humanitarian emergencies management;
- all hazards emergency management experience, including but not limited to, managing public health emergencies, pandemic planning, mass casualty planning and other disciplines within emergency preparedness and response;
- experience in resource mobilization for SimEx and/or AR, and networking with institutions, donors, and partners in the simulation field;
- incident management systems and coordination mechanisms;
- health systems strengthening and service integration in emergencies;
- social and behavioural/cognitive sciences relevant to emergency preparedness and response;
- use of gaming and virtual realities (VA) technologies in SimEx; and
- use of Aritificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in SimEx
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the [name of the advisory group], please submit the following documents by 24:00 (midnight) Geneva time on 20 March 2026, to rar@who.int with the subject line: “Expression of interest for SERTAG”:
- a cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria. Please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity. Therefore do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer);
- your curriculum vitae; and
- a signed and completed WHO Declaration of Interests (DOI) form, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed.
Important information about the selection processes and
conditions of appointment
Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of an AG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat to enable WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant AG.
The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations .The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low- and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an AG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest, to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.
WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet.
AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of AG members to participate in AG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to Dr Landry Ndriko Mayigane at mayiganel@who.int and/or Dr Georgia Galazoula at galazoulag@who.int well before the applicable deadline.