Réseau Français des Instituts d’Études Avancées (RFIEA)

The Network of French Institutes for Advanced Study (RFIEA) was established in March 2007 as one of the thirteen Thematic Networks for Advanced Study (RTRA) created by the Research Act of April 2006. This thematic network is unique in the area of the humanities and social sciences. In a context in which research is undergoing profound change, France has taken the decision to set up Institutes for Advanced Study (IAS) – institutions that have proved themselves in North America and Europe – and has opted to link up in a network the four newly created institutes located in several French cities: the Collegium de Lyon and the Institutes for Advanced Study of Nantes, Aix-Marseille and Paris. In order to accomplish its various mission tasks, the RFIEA was established by law in the form of a foundation for scientific co-operation officially recognised as serving the public interest. The Foundation received a patrimonial grant from the Ministry of Higher Education and Research amounting to €13.5 million, to which is added the contributions of its five founding institutions. The Board of Trustees of the RFIEA brings together some of the most important actors in the humanities and social sciences in France: the National Centre for Scientific Research(CNRS), the École normale supérieure (ENS), the École normale supérieure Lettres et sciences humaines (ENS LSH), the School for Advanced Social Science Study (EHESS), the Foundation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH), and the university and research centres in the Rhône-Alpes and Aix-Marseille regions and in Nantes. Through its four constituent institutes, the RFIEA brings together 8 universities, 12 large advanced teaching and research institutions, 57 research units and over 1000 researchers linked to the IAS.