Initiatives
The Europe Initiative project aims to build and foster a community around research on Europe, understood as both a cultural and political entity, taking a long-term view (from the Renaissance to the present day, including the Enlightenment) and an interdisciplinary approach (history, languages and literature, philosophy, art history, etc.). Its ambition is to implement a critical approach to the concept of European identity by combining knowledge relating to European integration since 1945 with controversies surrounding European “civilization” since the discovery of the New World.
Coordinators:
- Céline Spector, SND UMR 8011, Sorbonne Université
- Laurent Warlouzet, SIRICE, UMR8138, Sorbonne Université
Within the Sorbonne University Alliance, many researchers are working on sensors for the environment and health, in response to growing societal needs for increasingly precise spatial and temporal mapping. This expansion raises not only technical/technological challenges, but also ethical, sociological and philosophical questions. The T-CAPES initiative aims to bring all players together to create a strong and visible community, both within and beyond ASU. We will support the development of new sensors, their integration into electronic systems, as well as their deployment, particularly in the context of participatory science, while engaging in reflection on their uses.
Coordinators:
- Emmanuel Maisonhaute, Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire, Sorbonne Université
- Hakeim Talleb, Laboratoire de Génie Electrique et Electronique de Paris, Sorbonne Université
The circulation, through transfer and hybridization, of texts, representations, practices, goods and/or people, both within the Middle Ages and into the modern and contemporary periods, is the focus of the initiative's project. MeCir will federate agile and collaborative interdisciplinary research across a broad chronology, renewed by new technologies (digital humanities, archaeometry, AI), on these medieval circulations that fuel great linguistic, literary and artistic creativity. Thanks to the copyists and translators who enabled the transmission and enrichment of the ancient heritage, the men and women of the Middle Ages developed new political, legal, religious, artistic and scientific cultures. This heritage has been grafted onto an imaginary of the Middle Ages that feeds films, video games, comic strips, forms an inescapable component of contemporary culture and extends our fields of research.
Coordinators:
- Béatrice Caseau, Orient & Méditerranée UMR 8167, Sorbonne Université
- Florence Bourgne, CEMA UR 2557, Sorbonne Université
- Joëlle Ducos, STIH UR 4509, Sorbonne Université
- Elisabeth Yota, Centre André Chastel UMR 8150, Sorbonne Université
- Frédéric Billiet, IReMUS UMR 8223, Sorbonne Université
This project aims to study food as a “total social fact” of present and past societies, by bringing together within an interdisciplinary scientific community the very many colleagues working - in the 3 faculties and various establishments of the ASU - on one or more aspects of this question. The diversity and complementarity of our approaches, which are unique in France, will be reflected in 7 cross-disciplinary areas of research, ranging from food cultures and their “patrimonialization”, to their mutations and hybridizations up to the present day, to the very high stakes involved in environmental and public health issues, to the evolution since prehistoric times of the realities and representations of food, and the multiple frontiers of food. This project will also include an innovative training component, the structuring of an international network and an opening up to a wide public in order to meet the very strong social demand on this theme.
Coordinators:
- Fabien Faugeron, UMR 8596, Sorbonne Université
- Sylvaine Boulanger, UR Médiations, Science des Lieux, Sciences des Liens, Sorbonne Université
- Karine Clément, UMRS 1269, Sorbonne Université
- Khadija El Hadri-Zegouagh, UMR 8256, Sorbonne Université
- Christophe Lavelle, UMR7196, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
- Caroline Marti, UR 1498 GRIPIC - CELSA , Sorbonne Université
The central theme of the Life Sciences at Interfaces Initiative is the exploration of fundamental questions in biology, using concepts and methods from other scientific disciplines. The aim is to unite a broad community around a modern approach to the study of living organisms. The project has two main scientific thrusts: engineering for life and theoretical approaches to modeling biological systems. These two axes will promote the structuring of interfaces with chemistry, engineering and mathematics, as well as continuing to enrich those with physics and computer science. The actions will be open to all members of the Alliance Sorbonne Université (ASU), which will enable the emergence of new themes and the structuring of a rich and diversified community in view of ASU's considerable potential and the strategic relevance of sciences at the interfaces of living systems.
Coordinators:
- Gilles Fischer , LCQB, IBPS, Sorbonne Université
- Christine Ménager , Phenix, Sorbonne Université
The New Frontiers in Molecular Reactivity (iDream) Initiative represents an opportunity for the ASU scientific community to address future challenges in a unique way. The goal is to bring together molecular reactivity and emerging technologies in fields as diverse as biomimicry, CO2 recovery, heritage, the quantum world, and new therapeutic approaches. The goal of iDream is to strengthen the impact of the SU Alliance's research by creating an interdisciplinary and international community, from students to researchers, involving multiple skillsets in molecular reactivity.
Coordinators:
- Marc Robert, IPCM, Sorbonne Université
- Jean-Philip Piquemal, LCT, Sorbonne Université
Digital Humanities (DH), as a transdiscipline, transforms approaches in Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) by integrating digital methods. Faced with the methodological and epistemological revolution constituted by Digital Humanities, it is crucial for an ambitious and forward-looking university to have a dedicated structure. This initiative would make it possible to structure and make HN visible within the alliance. This would further enable the institution to integrate a dynamic of innovation and respond to current challenges related to the use of digital technology in HSS. Led by SU and its partners, the HN initiative aims to address the challenges related to the analysis of large sets of digital data and the ethical and methodological issues raised by Artificial Intelligence. It draws on solid and recognized scientific expertise to develop interdisciplinary thinking while offering innovative training that meets the needs of researchers and professionals.
Coordinators:
- Andrea Del Lungo, Sorbonne Université
- Motasem Alrahabi, Sorbonne Université
The iRHiST project aims to support the emergence, within the Sorbonne University Alliance, of a research and training network dedicated to the themes of the history of science and technology (HST). Currently relatively invisible within the Alliance, HST is at the heart of the concerns of a major scientific university in a complex world where the place of science and technology is both increasingly crucial and contested. The fundamental nature of this field is demonstrated by the fact that more than a hundred researchers, lecturers (Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Science and Engineering, MNHN, UTC, including the CNAM), as well as staff from the libraries, archives and collections (BSU), already devote a significant part of their activity to it. HST also features in the training offerings, but without overall coherence. By synergizing existing resources and seeking to structure and strengthen them through targeted actions, our initiative aims to position the Alliance as a player in the renewal of HST at the international level.
Coordinators:
- David Aubin, IMJ-PRG, Sorbonne Université
- Nathalie Rousseau, Orient & Méditerranée, Sorbonne Université