government-region plan contract

ISI-MESHS “Interdisciplinarity – structuring – internationalisation”

Since January 2017, thanks to the funding of the region Hauts-de-France regional council and as a part of the planning contract between the region and the State (“Contrat plan Etat-région” or CPER), the MESHS has been implementing its ISI-MESHS project. After a first phase from 2007 to 2013, the MESHS has entered in 2017 in a consolidation phase with this project designed to reinforce its research actions that includes three parts:

1. Increasing interdisciplinary research (systematic call for projects, development of digital humanities and reinforcement of scientific dissemination and mediation)

2. Structuring humanities networks (creating synergy among existing actors, implementing a skill registry of regional scholars in HSS, consolidating valorisation and transfer of academic and scientific results)

3. Internationalising research and communication (increasing institutional support for international projects, implementing a strategy for international communication)

By spearheading these (new or reinforced) activities, the MESHS re-affirms its action of structuring and spreading research in humanities in the Hauts-de-France region. Moreover, this project will consolidate and deepen the connection between humanities and other sciences, as between humanities and economic, political and public stakeholders.

The ISI-MESHS project includes three parts, detailed here.

1. Increasing interdisciplinary research by :
    
   • Reinforcing the policy of call for projects to sustain an original and challenging interdisciplinarity. In the last years a coherent range of calls for projects has been developed and proposed to researchers. These complementary calls are in the service of the interdisciplinary dynamic of the regional research and its development.
      
   • Spreading digital humanities knowledge and practice to fulfil the challenge of the insertion of digital technologies in the field of humanities. In order to do this, the MESHS sustains the emergence of an active local scientific community in digital humanities and its networking with the national and international communities. The annual DHNord symposium constitutes a major part of this policy, completed by conferences and training courses all along the year.
      
   • Developing scientific dissemination to reinforce the dialogue between science and society. Regularly, the MESHS designs and implements events for the general audience (conferences, debates, roundtables, workshops). The highlight of this policy is the HSS in the Spring event that takes place every year during spring, and is organised in close partnership with regional cultural institutions (theatres, cinemas, bookshops). Also, in partnership with the publishing house La Contre-Allée in Lille, the MESHS produces a collection of contemporary literature named “Fictions d’Europe” (“Fictions from Europe”), to raise the interest of the general audience about the question of the future of Europe, through literature.
     
      
2. Structuring humanities networks by :
    
   • Designing and implementing a skills directory of regional researchers and lecturers along with a cartography of regional companies. This involves realising an inventory of existing local databases and platforms, but also collecting, consolidating and updating data.
      
   • Reinforcing the development and transfer of research, in particular through the consolidation of the Conseil stratégique de valorisation (strategic council of research development and transfer).
     
      
3. Internationalising research and communication by :
    
   • Raising awareness among humanities researchers that internationalisation is essential criteria to aim for European funding.
      
   • Contributing to the international mobility of researchers by proposing to them fellowships programs (abroad for French researchers and in France for international researchers).
      
   • Reinforcing MESHS’ international communication.

The ISI-MESHS CPER allows the MESHS to propose a coherent range of calls for projects to researchers, to sustain the interdisciplinary dynamic of the regional research:

• Call for structuring projects
  The projects must correspond with MESHS’ 5-years research programs.

• Call for emerging projects
  This call aims specifically at exploratory research projects and constitutes the first step for more ambitious ones, within MESHS’ research program.

• Fellowships programs
  The programs permit to French researchers to go abroad and to international researchers to come to Hauts-de-France in HSS laboratories) for a few weeks.
  Since 2018, the MESHS proposes to researchers out of France a short-term fellowship program, that funds research exchanges of up to 4 weeks. It targets outstanding experienced researchers from all over the world who seek to engage in research in HSS laboratories, located in Region Hauts de France laboratories. Any discipline of the Humanities and Social Sciences is concerned. Applications are submitted by the local hosting researchers and the incoming researchers, who wish to be hosted in one of our associated laboratory.  

• Call for punctual support
  This call supports punctual actions of interdisciplinary and international research in the region.

• Call for partnership
  This call provides a logistical or financial support to the organisation of interdisciplinary research events

To be considered eligible for support, the project manager (researchers or lecturers) must be members of one of MESHS’ affiliated laboratories. However, any laboratory or researcher can be a partner of the project.

MESHS’ international relations service can help foreign researchers to get in contact with MESHS’ affiliated laboratories.