TERRAE
The TERRAE Major Research Programme aims to design paths of transformation towards a more resilient world, both environmentally and socially. It brings together a community of more than 150 researchers from five PSL institutions to address environmental and social issues.
Its aim is to structure, amplify and consolidate transdisciplinary research at PSL, by encouraging systemic approaches in partnership with non-academic players.
TERRAE has two complementary and coordinated objectives:
- To organise different types of scientific events, open to the entire PSL community, in order to create a common culture around transdisciplinarity.
- To encourage the development of innovative, cross-disciplinary research projects, divided into two categories.
- Transition hotspots", larger-scale projects.
- Pathfinder projects", which pave the way for new initiatives.
The aim of these projects is to develop transformative transdisciplinary research focused on social and ecological transition. The first two hotspots focus on drought and agro-ecological transition. Other projects will be selected throughout the programme to support TERRAE's overall ambition.
By joining TERRAE, you will become part of a community committed to meeting the major environmental and social challenges of our time.
Events to come
=> Join us on 07 July from 9am to 1pm at Dauphine-PSL for the 2nd Terrae Emergence Forum! A morning open to all PSL researchers interested in transition issues, to connect ideas and create synergies.
Highlights
The main areas of research
- Analysis of the systemic challenges of transition: identifying and understanding the intersections between climate change, biodiversity and social issues.
- Transition hotspots and Pathfinder projects: designing and implementing transdisciplinary projects on social and ecological transition issues (sectors of activity, territories, practices) by developing innovative systemic approaches.
- Collaborative research and societal impact: working with stakeholders in the field and the public concerned to incorporate their questions and challenges, as well as their expertise, into research projects, and working with them to activate the ecological and social transition.
- Training and raising awareness of transitions: developing links between sustainability science research and teaching to train a new generation of transformative action-researchers.
The Copil
- Laurent Bopp: Director of Research at the CNRS and the Ecole Normale Supérieure
- Béatrice Cointe : CNRS Research Fellow at Mines Paris -PSL, Attached Professor at CERES
- Marc Fleurbaey: CNRS Research Director, PSE, Attached Professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL, Economics
Current Copil members include:
- Christelle Hély
- Daniel Herrera Araujo
- Amaury Lambert
- Stéphanie Monjon
- Béatrice Parance
- Corinne Robert
The support team
- Blandine Lathuillière: Head of Ecological and Social Transition projects at ENS-PSL, support for TERRAE projects
- Annabel Lavigne: Head of non-academic partnerships at ENS-PSL, TERRAE communications officer
- Annabelle Milleville: Administrative officer, ENS-PSL Humanities Resources Department
EPHE - PSL
Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL
- Centre Maurice Halbwachs
- Département de mathématiques et applications
- Département Informatique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure
- Iglobes
- Institut de Biologue de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure
- Institut Jean Nicod
Dauphine - PSL
- Centre de Recherche Droit Dauphine (CR2D)
- Dauphine Recherches en Management (DRM)
- Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Sciences Sociales (IRISSO)
Mines Paris - PSL
Collège de France
Projects in the TERRAE programme must meet the objectives of transformative research for social and ecological transition. They aim to develop innovative and systemic research, in close collaboration with non-academic stakeholders. Each project must involve at least two scientific disciplines and be developed in partnership with one or more non-academic players, depending on the issue addressed.
There are two types of project, depending on the ambitions and scope of the project:
- Transition ‘hotspots’: These ambitious projects must respond to a major transition challenge, focusing on a transformative research object and the associated transformation trajectory. They involve several partners and aim to propose innovative and collaborative transdisciplinary projects.
- Duration: 3 to 4 years
- Budget: €400,000 to €500,000
- Pathfinder projects: Smaller in scale, these projects are designed to encourage transdisciplinary research in a more flexible format than the hotspots. They can act as precursors or catalysts for future hotspot initiatives, or collaborate with existing projects.
- Expected duration: 2 to 3 years
- Budget: €100,000 to €150,000