Condorcet 2025, Campus Condorcet’s strategic project

Campus Condorcet firmly believes that the exacting requirements of scientific excellence can be reconciled with social impact. It therefore intends to radically transform the approaches and practices used for research, training and innovation promotion in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) fields, as well as their interface with other sciences. This ambition for far-reaching change is on a par with the level of investment required to create a campus that will bring together an exceptionally large scientific community both by European and global standards (3500 researchers and 4600 doctoral students), in a dynamic region, and the many challenges that this entails. The Campus’ strategic project is therefore intrinsically linked to the second phase of construction. This phase will enable the campus to accommodate half its research community and thus attain the essential critical mass to achieve its ambitions for scientific excellence and social impact, which are the heart and soul of the project. Due to the duration of the second phase of construction, the necessary funding needs to be released swiftly to enable the strategic project to be fully deployed by 2025.

To achieve its goals, Campus Condorcet must be designed as an inherently open ecosystem. The campus intends to take advantage of its wide coverage of SSH disciplines while also remaining open to other sciences (mathematics and digital sciences, life and health sciences, neurosciences, earth and environmental sciences, etc.), in order to address the complexity of many research topics that cannot be confined to a single discipline. It will also be open to the world, with the aim of enhancing the outreach and appeal of French SSH and increasing their influence within the European research area. In addition, Campus Condorcet intends to be open to the surrounding region, which hosts a growing number of companies, associations and cultural organisations and forms an integral part of the wider-scale Grand Paris metropolitan development. Finally, it will also be open to its own era, with the aim of shedding new light on and providing original solutions to some of the major societal challenges of the 21st century. In particular, the Campus and its member institutions intend to establish themselves as a national and global leader on a limited number of key subjects where they are ahead of the field, such as historical memory, migration and mobility, public health, the arts and digital design, and finally secularism and religious studies.



To drive this transformation process, the Condorcet 2025 strategic project comprises 5 objectives that are designed to specifically add value to the member institutions and to the French SSH community as a whole. To implement these objectives, Campus Condorcet member institutions will leverage their financial, technical and human resources and will together seek additional resources from their parent ministries and other public and private partners.

Objective: to be recognised at the highest international level as a leader on a limited number of cross-cutting topics and major societal challenges. Campus Condorcet will offer researchers state-of-the-art infrastructure that is inherently interdisciplinary (in particular the "Grand équipement documentaire" Library - GED), as well as a myriad of group working areas to foster interaction and effective multidisciplinary cooperation (Scientific Incubator, Conference centre, Researchers' residence, Faculty club, etc.). The Campus and its member institutions also intend to implement programmes to support interdisciplinary projects and Condorcet Chairs, with a view to detecting and initiating ventures.


Objective: to meet the challenges of globalisation in higher education and research, and to consolidate the position of French SSH in the European research area’s development projects. The Campus aims to establish itself as a key research centre on the international scene, by building on its "Grand équipement documentaire" Library (GED) and first-rate Conference centre, by pursuing an ambitious invitations programme, and by hosting the French branches of prestigious international universities on site. The Campus and its member institutions will also consolidate their programmes to support applicants for European calls for proposals (inital support, package offers, sharing expertise and training, joint lobbying initiatives), as well as setting up a programme to support translation and scientific writing in English.

 

Objective: to increase the social impact of SSH and contribute to providing insights for public policymaking and evaluation at the national, European and international levels. A Scientific Mediation Centre will be created on the Campus to enable political and economic players, as well as citizens, to work directly with researchers using an action research and citizen science approach. The member institutions will host two or three large-scale thematic programmes on the Campus’ chosen interdisciplinary topics, in close cooperation with local organisations. Together, they will develop knowledge-sharing schemes as well as providing lifelong learning and expertise, to better meet the needs of public administrations, companies and associations.

Objective: to establish the Campus as a key international centre of expertise and as a French network leader in these fields. In coordination with the GED (the "Grand équipement documentaire” Library), the Condorcet Digital Humanities Centre will operate as a shared resource and expertise centre that will serve the research units on the campus, to help transform the way in which scientific data is produced, managed and promoted. The Campus and its member institutions will initiate joint activities in the digital publishing, documentary heritage and open data fields, by drawing on the national infrastructure and associated publishers that are hosted on site. They will instigate research and development partnerships with the best international digital humanities centres, as well as shared training programmes in this field. 

Objective: to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation, project-based learning and student involvement, in order to facilitate future professional integration. The wide range of courses, methods and learning tools offered by the member institutions constitute a major opportunity to broaden the experience and training of their students (unrestricted attendance of all seminars, development of shared courses, support to organise conferences). Moreover, the institutions will pursue the development of project-based learning and student involvement in coordination with local stakeholders. They will also support the acquisition of international experience through joint initiatives for international partnerships and “at home” international exposure. Finally, they will set up schemes to boost the professional integration of their students, with a specific focus on promoting doctoral diplomas.