Henri Bergeron appointed Dean of the School of Public Affairs at Sciences Po

The new Dean of the School of Public Affairs, Henri Bergeron, is well known to the Sciences Po community. He studied there until his thesis in sociology entitled ‘Taking care of or treating drug addicts: Anatomy of a collective belief’, and then made his mark in the institution as a research director and teacher.

Henri Bergeron is currently Director of Research at the Centre de sociologie des organisations (CSO, Centre for the Sociology of Organisations), Scientific Coordinator of the Chaire Santé (Health Chair), Co-Director of the ‘Health’ division of the Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (LIEPP, Interdisciplinary Laboratory for the Evaluation of Public Policies) and Director of the Executive Master of Public Administration. He also holds the Chair in Organisational and Labour Transformation and is director of the Master's in HR and Sustainable Governance, both hosted by the School of Management and Impact (EMI).

A sociologist specialising in health policy and transformations in public action, he was appointed in 2024 as a member of the Committee for the History of Health Administrations by the Ministry of Labour, Health and Solidarity, as well as a member of the Scientific College of the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT). As a researcher, he mobilises the tools of the sociology of public action, social movements and, above all, the sociology of organisations in order to account for the dynamics at work in the processes of shaping public action and in those that govern the reconfigurations of organisational and institutional fields.

Henri Bergeron takes over as head of one of Sciences Po's flagship schools, succeeding Philippe Martin. The leading economist, who passed away in December 2023, was internationally recognised by his peers and specialised in international economics and economic geography, among other subjects. He had also founded the Department of Economics at Sciences Po.

Henri Bergeron: ‘My aim is to strengthen the School of Public Affairs’ vocation as a school for the transformation of public action by drawing on committed teams and teachers and on the achievements of a programme already recognised for its excellence. My priority will be to increase our students‘ ability to understand the complexity of the institutional, political and organisational environments in which public action takes place, and to provide them with the reasoning methods and tools necessary to initiate, carry out and evaluate reforms.’

Ten years after its creation, the School of Public Affairs at Sciences Po has established itself as one of the best courses in public affairs, both nationally and internationally. It pursues the ambition that has been at the heart of the Sciences Po project for one hundred and fifty years: to train the public actors of tomorrow, capable of analysing the challenges of the contemporary world and providing innovative and ethical solutions. Also recognised for the excellence of its preparatory class for administrative examinations, the School of Public Affairs is now reinventing its training mission around European integration and issues related to digital and environmental transformations.