With a University Diploma in Health, Safety and Environments (HSE) from the Bordeaux Institute of Technology (in French), Alain Garrigou was a labour inspector with the French Office of Health and Safety Inspection before resuming his studies in ergonomics in Paris. In 1992, he defended a doctoral thesis in ergonomics on the participation of workers in the design of the Figaro printing works, while at the ergonomics laboratory of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers - CNAM. He then specialised in the contribution of ergonomics to the design of industrial systems (printing plants, nuclear power plants, aluminium smelters, etc.).
He left France to teach at the University of Quebec, in Montreal, as a substitute professor for three years, while working as a researcher at IRSST, the Quebec equivalent of the INRS - Occupational Safety and Health Administration. On his return, Alain Garrigou joined the Cristo laboratory for the sociology of innovation at the University of Grenoble and taught at the ENSGI, France's top industrial engineering school.

In 1998, he was appointed lecturer in ergonomics for the HSE department at the Bordeaux Institute of Technology. 
After working with the industrial automation team, he joined the health, work and environment laboratory, which became the EPICENE team of Bordeaux Population Health and became involved in the development of ergotoxicology, a cross-disciplinary approach combining ergonomics, public health, toxicology and law whose goal is to contribute to the prevention of exposures to carcinogens.
Alain Garrigou was appointed professor in 2015.

In February 2022, he was appointed Vice-President for quality of life and occupational health for the University of Bordeaux by Dean Lewis.

Key dates

1983 - University Diploma (DU) HSE - Bordeaux Institute of Technology

1992 - Doctorate, CNAM

1993-1996 - Post-doctorate, University of Quebec, Montreal/IRSTT

1997 - Teacher at ENSGI, Grenoble

1998 - Lecturer, HSE department - Bordeaux Institute of Technology

2004 - Researcher on the EPICENE team/Bordeaux Population Health

2015 - University professor, University of Bordeaux

2022 - Vice-President for quality of life and occupational health, University of Bordeaux