[EN] Global Research Institute of Paris (GRIP)

GRIP in brief

The Global Research Institute of Paris (GRIP) is an interdisciplinary project of the Université de Paris to address issues on globalization and promote these reflections within the framework of the Université de Paris and its partners.

It is part of the Global Studies landscape, but also in a reflection on North-South relations, a field we could name Global Research.

GRIP is established with the support of the IDEX programme of Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC). The Université de Paris, and IRD, its privileged partner within GRIP, will be particularly attentive to supporting projects involving training and research personnel from USPC’s main privileged partners such as INALCO, FMSH, CNRS, and any other partner willing to participate in this initiative.

GRIP Roadmap

(version as of 15/09/2019)

Starting from the multidimensional, paradoxical and ambivalent nature of global processes, GRIP wishes to establish itself as a university research centre with a strong impact on research and visible at national and international level.

Objectives of the project

GRIP proposes to :
• a) to question globalization beyond its economic dimension, focusing on the greater circulation of individuals, ideas, knowledge, fashions, norms, values and imaginations resulting from an unprecedented interconnection between societies ;
• b) to document in concrete terms the paradoxical nature of globalization, since the latter is characterized by dynamics of integration, inclusion, arrangements, or on the contrary fragmentation, exclusion and dispersion of economic, institutional, political and social realities previously contained within the borders of nation-states ;
• c) to question the multipolarity of globalization : if the latter could once be assimilated to the hegemony of the United States, the rapid growth of other countries leads to the emergence of resistance and competition that can no longer be reduced to the opposition between a centre (the North, the West) and a periphery (the South, the East), but between multiple centres and several peripheries.
• d) to identify new places of social and political regulation : while nation-states remain unavoidable political realities, global processes have led to their relative weakening, which can be seen in the multiplication of supranational actors and forms of governance put in place to counter the many global risks.

The creation of the GRIP responds to a triple ambition : to renew the research agenda by exploring the field of global studies in a global perspective that not only integrates comparisons between North and South but also between South and South ; to prepare a new generation of academics and researchers with the transversal and multidisciplinary themes required to understand these linkages ; to strengthen the links between distant disciplinary fields, through interdisciplinary epistemological reflections in SSH applied to the study of « glocal » dynamics.

Topics / Areas of reflection

The GRIP intends to carry out integrated research, training and development actions through the synergy on three main topics :

• a) global cities ( places of globalization), considering them as observatories to understand how links are forged between individuals, social groups and institutions within urban spaces and across national borders ;
• b) circulations ( the dynamics of globalization), by measuring the impact of economic polarizations and international power relations on circulations by overcoming the only face-to-face between hegemonies and subordinations and the vision in terms of standardization ;
• (c) risks, vulnerabilities, opportunities ( the effects of globalisation), by promoting studies on vulnerabilities, inequalities and risks on people and institutions, but also opportunities and transformations in education, health, science and the economy.

The main objective of GRIP will be to encourage the emergence of research projects in all disciplines of Global research and beyond, with multi-scalar, multi-level and multi-site types of research, comparative research on objects that have major social, economic and cultural impacts. To this end, GRIP proposes to :
• to bring together a multidisciplinary SSH research community on these themes, but also between SHS and natural sciences ;
• to encourage scientific production specifically dedicated to these research objects ;
• to conduct interdisciplinary research that is aware of the issues at stake, by promoting circulations of people and practices.

Other activities

In addition to this academic aspect, the GRIP plans operations with a strong social dimension by carrying out research-actions at the request of associations, professional branches, territorial groups (municipalities, regions) and NGOs ; by promoting an action to disseminate research results to institutional decision-makers ; by encouraging a labelling activity, in partnership with civil society for education, training and prevention projects, etc.

Global partnerships

The GRIP wishes to engage into three strategies : a) to take on board a selection of the most relevant partnerships with foreign and national institutions and individuals by following-up on previous collaborations in our university as, for example, relations with the National University of Singapore ; b) to be part of the international strategy established by the Université de Paris ; c) to stimulate new collaborations emanating from the Institute’s activities.

Challenges and expected results

GRIP’s activities should thus make it possible to :
• stimulate the creation of a community of global studies in SSH in France, which will be accompanied by the mapping of SSH research on an international scale, on the three topics, and an inventory of non-university partners ;
• the making of an institutional network, quantifiable in terms of the number of links with partner institutions in France, but also in terms of the number of links with strategic international partners ;
• the concrete deployment by funding specific operations that should be necessary for research. he GRIP will not finance field studies (funding that should be obtained by the laboratories). The priority is to establish linkages among groups, linking several research units or research groups, likely to communicate on GRIP’s issues ; GRIP should also facilitate the search for funding ;
• a publication policy. GRIP will work with the documentation services of the IRD and the Université de Paris to initiate a reflection on Open Access. Partnerships will also be established with renowned international publishers, as for eg. the one already done with Brill (Leiden, Boston) Example : http://www2.brill.com/gys
• Links to society through training and cooperations : labelling operations ; creation of training « pathways » with a GRIP label ; establishment of lasting links with civil society (joint operations with actors from different territorial bases).

Governance

Finally, the GRIP will establish a collegial governance system with a president, a director of valorisation/training and a director of international relations, a steering committee (day-to-day scientific governance with managers for each strategic axis), and a supervisory committee (advisory). An Internal Scientific Council (USPC members) and an External Scientific Council (foreign and external USPC members) will ensure the scientific validity of the project.

Contacts

Rigas Arvanitis (Ceped, IRD) 
 Florence Mourlhon-Dalliès (EDA, Université de Paris Descartes) 
 Vincenzo CIcchelli (Ceped, Université de Paris Descartes) 
 Didier Nativel (Cessma, Université de Paris Diderot) 
 Isabelle Leglise (Sedyl, CNRS-INALCO) in charge of Coordination with the Federation Sciences Sociales au Sud F3S

Calendar of events

October-December 2019 - -Precise definition of topics contents, planning a calendar of activities and creation of the governance bodies
• January 2020 : start of the contract of the GRIP Project coordinator
• January 2020 : Meetings with the unit managers of the 3S Federation to see what synergies and operations can be formalized in common
• end of January 2020 : a representative of each topic reports on projects to the Steering Committee
• February 2020 : Launch of the website
• 1st semester 2020 : each of the three topics organizes an inter-laboratory seminar (1/2 day) with the participation of someone from abroad (budget : 5000 euros per seminar). All this will constitute a GRIP general seminar with one session per topic.
• end of June 2020 : day of restitution/reflection of the work of the axes and preparation of an international event ;
• end of October : major international GRIP event