Valentin Thomas received his PhD in Sociology from the Université Paris-Dauphine (2021). His research examines the construction of the global regulatory system for toxic substances, and the associated power relationships between and within social movements, scientific institutions, public authorities, and industry.

His PhD dissertation focused on the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization, and analysed how this institution has crafted a specific definition of carcinogenicity since the 1970s. During his primary postdoctoral research at Sciences Po Lyon, France, Valentin studied the interplay between several local actors on the issue of industrial pollution's health effects in the chemical valley situated in the south of Lyon. He also conducted collective research on the French Yellow vests movement in following the social and political trajectory of activists involved in the region.

As a Max Weber Fellow, he intends to start new research about the construction of the European market for chemicals between the 1960s and the 1990s. It addresses the role of the stakeholders involved in this market building process, the way in which various types of toxicities were defined and differentiated from one another, and how this definition has led to the non-detection of specific health hazards.

Valentin has taught several aspects of Sociology, Political Science and Science and Technology Studies at the Université Paris-Dauphine, the Saclay University, and the École Nationale des Services Vétérinaires.