Paris Institute for Advanced Studies (Paris IAS)

The Paris Institute for Advanced Study is a research center in the social sciences, humanities and cognitive (neuro)sciences, and a partner of the main Parisian higher education and research institutions.

As a place of work, meeting place and interface between the local ecosystem and international science, the Institute stimulates high-level research whose innovative character contributes to the understanding of the world and its transformations. As a tool of collective intelligence, it encourages interdisciplinary dialogue and the development of new research methods and perspectives. To meet the challenges of our time and those to come, it encourages collaboration between research, administration, the economic world and citizens.

It is supported by the City of Paris, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation through the RFIEA+ Laboratory of Excellence (French Network of Institutes for Advanced Study), and the European Commission as part of the FIAS (French Institutes for Advanced Study) program. The Paris IAS is also a member of NetIAS, a network that promotes dialogue and cooperation between European institutes for advanced study.

Its members are the major universities and scientific institutions located in the Paris region:

• École des hautes études en sciences sociales
• École normale supérieure (Paris)
• École pratique des hautes études (Paris)
• Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme
• National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures
• Sorbonne University
• Paris Cité University
• Gustave Eiffel University
• University of Paris-Nanterre
• Paris-Saclay University
• Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 University

Its current director is Saadi Lahlou, professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Honorary State Counselor and former President of Comité 21, Bettina Laville, chairs the Board of Directors.

Hosting excellence

A home for scientific life, the Paris Institute for Advanced Study welcomes international researchers from a variety of disciplines, facilitating their exchanges and supporting their contacts with the Ile-de-France scientific community and the non-academic world.

Freed from the daily obligations of university life, these researchers carry out, individually or in groups, the scientific project of their choice, in conjunction with the research teams of member institutions. These projects are characterized by an innovative interdisciplinary approach and the development of new methodologies and research directions. Projects that combine the arts and sciences, transdisciplinary and intersectoral projects (science, politics, economics, society) are particularly encouraged.

Applications for research stays are subject to a highly selective evaluation process by international experts, in accordance with the standards of the European Research Council (ERC). Most of the fellows are selected in the FIAS program, co-funded by the European Commission's COFUND-Marie Sklodowska Curie Action. The Paris IAS has also set up specialized chairs in partnership with several of its member universities: the "Major Societal Changes" Chair with Sorbonne University and the "Jean d'Alembert" Research Chair with the University of Paris-Saclay. Besides, it has initiated a program to facilitate the emergence of networks of young researchers working in groups on major societal issues (Constructive Advanced Thinking program - CAT).

Since 2013, the Institute has been housed in the Hôtel de Lauzun, a prestigious 17th century mansion located in the heart of Paris on the Ile Saint-Louis, made available by the City of Paris. Researchers have offices and rooms at their disposal for meetings, seminars, lectures and conferences.

Over the past ten years, the IAS has welcomed hundreds of researchers coming from more than 200 of the world's leading universities, and covering more than 40 nationalities, working in a wide variety of disciplines. These research stays have produced hundreds of scientific publications in the best presses and journals in the world. They lead to international collaborations and to the incoming mobility of excellent researchers to France. They also contribute to strengthening the integration of the Ile-de-France research community in networks of excellence and to making Paris a scientific capital that cannot be ignored in the global research ecosystem.

Building bridges and creating tools for collective intelligence

The Institute is developing interactions with local and global ecosystems of research, civil society, and the socioeconomic world in order to increase the impact of scientific work in the humanities and social sciences beyond disciplinary and sectoral boundaries.

To this end, the IAS set up two major thematic programs:
- "Brain, Culture and Society" is dedicated to the dialogue between SSH, cognitive sciences and neurosciences.
- The "Meta" program, focuses on the possibilities and conditions for productivity of cross-sectoral research, as well as on methods for project evaluation and indicators of quality and impact, particularly in the areas of sustainability and resilience.

As a major player in innovation in the human, social and cognitive sciences, the IAS is developing various projects in partnership with its partner institutions and other institutes for advanced study around the world to foster collaborative research on complex issues and transitions. The creation of digital infrastructures for collective intelligence on an international scale, such as the World Pandemic Research Network, founded in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic with the support of the RFIEA, or the development of research networks on major scientific and societal challenges (the Constructive Advanced Thinking program, the Intercontinental Academia, etc.) are concrete examples.

Dialogue between academics, citizens, industrialists and political decision-makers encourage reflection on present and future societal challenges. The organization of frequent meetings allow people who are not familiar with research to have easier access to its results and to open up to the scientific mind. The Institute's research fellows and partner institutions convene about a hundred scientific events each year on fundamental research topics or societal issues.