Home>Research>Programmes, Observatories and Chair
Programmes, Observatories and Chair
Regional area programmes
The regional programmes are instrumental in fostering new collaborations between academics from Sciences Po's five disciplines. Their primary objective is to enhance research activities in a specific region of the world (Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa), and to promote scientific, educational and cultural collaborations with partner universities in each region. Specifically, the objective is to provide students with support and encouragement by integrating them into a collaborative environment at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral/post-doctoral levels. The programmes also provide an unparalleled forum for dialogue between researchers, artists, managers and civil society players, who share their views on the region.
The Africa Programme is the overarching structure that unites all initiatives related to the African continent at Sciences Po. The structure is interdisciplinary, spanning the various research centres, departments, schools, campuses and institutes. It provides a unique interface between education and research. Its mission is to promote, coordinate and lead Sciences Po's scientific, educational and partnership activities relating to the African continent.
Visit the Africa Programme website
The Middle East North Africa (MENA) Programme brings together all initiatives relating to studies and research on the Middle East and North Africa at Sciences Po. The programme is an interdisciplinary structure that cuts across the various research centres, departments, schools, campuses and departments, offering a unique interface.
Visit the MENA website
Sciences Po's South Asia Programme is part of a broader initiative to acknowledge and advocate for the significance of cultural domains within the institution. Indeed, while area studies have long been the focus of CERI (founded in 1952), they are now found in most of Sciences Po's research centres and departments and are supported by the International Affairs Department (DAI), which is stepping up its exchange agreements with universities around the world. Within this framework, the South Asia Programme is engaged in three types of activities.
Firstly, it contributes to the establishment of a regional specialisation within the Paris School of International Affairs and the Urban School. Students on this programme will select multiple courses, learn a language, undertake fieldwork and complete a research paper.
Secondly, it facilitates the establishment of partnerships between the DAI and regional universities, fostering the exchange of students and academics between the two institutions and cultivating new partnerships.
Thirdly, it organises research seminars, closed meetings bringing together academics and practitioners, and public events dealing with major issues for the region.
Visit the South Asia Programme website
Observatories
Observatories differ from other activities at CERI because of the plurality of their missions: research, expertise, news watch and analysis, events, dissemination of knowledge to multiple audiences, from closed circles of specialists to large audiences.
Latin American and Caribbean Observatory
OPALC brings together a diverse group of experts, including lecturers, researchers and students from Sciences Po and partner institutions, who specialise in the region. The observatory is part of CERI for all its scientific activities (research seminars and the annual publication, LAPO) and acts independently for its other missions.
The International Observatory of Religions
Launched in 2016, financed by the Ministry of Armed Forces, and managed jointly by the CERI and the Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (Research Group on Societies, Religions, and Secularisms) (GSRL/EPHE), this observatory completed the first phase of its work at the end of 2019. It has produced more than thirty monthly bulletins. The second phase was initiated in September 2021 and has lasted 4 years.
All the Observatory’s productions, old and new, are now available on a dedicated site, available here
Chair
Chair for the Study of Religion
This Chair is the first initiative of its kind in the French academic landscape. Its mission is to bring together researchers working on religion; to consolidate and develop the courses that Sciences Po offers on this theme; to participate in public and scholarly debate; and to support the younger generation of researchers.
