Collegium de Lyon

Academic Project

Both the history of the sciences and empirical research have taught us that certain locations and institutions are better placed than others to offer an environment of high quality that stimulates scientific creativity and generates breakthroughs in research and development. These venues are often clusters of moderate-sized research groups that host well-known academics conducting research in a number of different fields. They are also characterised by the absence of a cumbersome hierarchical structure and by their willingness to leave the beaten track of research for paths that have been explored little or not at all.
It may also be noted that most scientific advances have been accompanied, or even preceded, by new forms of organisation of research. Venues and institutions that are able to anticipate or adapt very quickly to new research topics and to these new forms of organisation have always had a decisive advantage. It was on this basis, and following the model of other institutes for advanced study around the world that have proven their effectiveness, that the Collegium de Lyon was created in 2006. Care was taken to ensure the two vital characteristics that define an IAS: complete openness to the international arena and efforts to foster active interdisciplinarity. From the outset, the Collegium gave priority to interdisciplinarity in its fellows invitation programmes because it deemed that interdisciplinarity offers a particularly effective means of revamping and diversifying the research conducted in a given field by accentuating the dynamic processes specific to each discipline.

Organisation and management

The Collegium de Lyon, founded in December 2006, is hosted by the University of Lyon under the supervision of its president Khaled Bouabdallah. The Director, Hervé Joly, sociologist, succeded in May 2016 to Alain Peyraube, linguist. The main institutions of higher education and research in the Lyon area are represented on the Board: the three universities of Lyon and that of Saint-Étienne, the École normale supérieure de Lyon, the Institut d’études politiques de Lyon and VetAgro Sup. Applicants are selected by an international Scientific Advisory Board, chaired by Élisabeth Giacobino and made up of prominent academics from various fields and geographical origins; the decisions of the Scientific Advisory Board are then validated by the Executive Committee.

Reception of fellows

The Collegium accepts 15 to 20 fellows per academic year. All or nearly all of them are non-French researchers, either junior or senior, whose home institutions are located outside the Rhône-Alpes area. The duration of fellowships is either five or ten months. Certain fellows are granted the possibility of forming thematic working groups by inviting other researchers working on a joint project or working in the same field to participate in workshops.
To facilitate contacts with the local academic community, each fellow is sponsored by at least one researcher or eminent personage of the region. This principle, which is enshrined in the Collegium’s charter, has led to strong collaboration between the fellows and local research units. The call for applications is permanently open.
The hosting capacity of the Collegium has reached its stationary state of 140 researcher-months annually.