Maison des Sciences de l'Homme en Bretagne (MSHB)

Operating as a ‘Unité de Service et de Recherche’ (USR CNRS 3549) (research unit that accommodates technical, administrative and research personnel), the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme en Bretagne (MSHB – Human Sciences Institute in Brittany) brings together all the humanities and social sciences research laboratories from across Brittany. Created in 2006 at the instigation of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Brittany’s four universities, the MSHB is one of a national network of 22 Human Sciences Institutes (RnMSH). The MSHB is driven by dialogue on the most pressing societal issues and epistemological disciplinary questions. Its activities are aimed at humanities and social sciences researchers who belong to one of its seven supervisory bodies: CNRS, École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique, Institut Mines-Télécom Atlantique, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Université de Bretagne Sud, Université de Rennes 1 and Université Rennes 2.

As part of its five-year programme, the MSHB has redefined its scientific identity into three areas:

• Anthropisation & Anthropocene
• European identities & transitions
• Democracy, experiments & transformations

These 3 areas cover the scientific priorities of Brittany’s four universities as well as the region’s new research and innovation outline strategy (S3) and the societal challenges proposed by the major national and European operators.
These research areas are sustained by issues that comprise the conflicting demands and implications of the notions of use, practice, behaviour, representation and controversy.