Léo MICHEL, Class of 2020

Can you tell us about your academic background?

After three years of “A/L” (literary and humanities) preparatory classes at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris, I joined the Master's programme in History at the Sciences Po School of Research. As a former history/geography elective student in preparatory classes, I knew that my results, my eligibility for the École normale supérieure in Paris, and the dissertation project I had developed would allow me to apply to Sciences Po, which presented an interesting framework for studying my fields of interest: history of the State, history of migration in Europe, and other social sciences.
I therefore followed the two years of the History Master's at Sciences Po, and obtained my degree after writing a thesis on the evolution of the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in relation to the development of economic elites within the State. While I put together this project, under the supervision of the researcher Claire Lemercier, I chose to apply for a second Master's degree at the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs. Over time, the interviews I had conducted as part of my research made me want to go through the looking glass, to be at the intersection of the worlds of research and public policy design.

How did your interest in history begin?

I have been fascinated by history since I was a child – I was captivated from an early age by historians and the special knowledge they hold. I come from a region where the recent past has left its mark on places and personal journeys; I wanted to understand why languages and names clashed in Alsace, how people could have been separated by national constructs, and how people so close to me could have gravitated to such different worlds. I also had an interest in the social sciences as a whole, especially for the concepts that they were developing, which allowed me to understand in greater detail some things I had long been curious about. Sciences Po welcomed these reflections, and itself promoted dialogue between the different social sciences.

What did your years of study at the Sciences Po School of Research (formerly the Doctoral School) bring you?

Immediately, the Master's programme immerses us in the world of research and its latest developments in a remarkable way. Students are completely integrated into the Centre for History, and you quickly get to know the little Sciences Po social science family. It is exhilarating, and at the same time we are forced to face the difficulties of the world of research. We are spared no details about the obstacles that litter a career in research. My classmates and I each came with our own plans and dreams, and the teachers guided us, allowing us to find our own path. The researchers and my classmates helped me ask myself the right questions about my next steps.

From an intellectual point of view, the School of Research has, of course, given me a lot, keeping its promise to train us in research through practice. It opened up an array of knowledge spanning the social sciences and allowed me to conduct research that borrowed almost as much from history as from sociology and political science. I had the opportunity to do my Master's thesis under the supervision of a researcher from the Centre for the Sociology of Organisations. This cross-disciplinary work was also facilitated by the library of the School of Research, where students from different Master’s programmes mingle.

Which teacher or teaching has had the greatest impact on you?

The History Master’s teachers make an engaging set of portraits. You find figures well-known even beyond the academic world, such as Marc Lazar, and brilliant young researchers capable of guiding your first steps in research, such as Mathieu Fulla. Paul-André Rosental will remain, for me, the most outstanding of my teachers. I was lucky enough to have him as a tutor during my first semester at Sciences Po, and I admired the coherence and depth he gave to his research theme, both as a teacher and as a researcher. The most engaging course was given by Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel and Gwenaële Rot – “The History of Surveys: Consumption and Work in the 19th and 20th centuries” – because of the variety of sources used and especially for what it revealed about the richness of a research field that is too often neglected by students of my generation.

What memories do you have of your school, your class, your teachers?

I especially remember a great deal of kindness and a wonderful spirit of camaraderie with the rest of the class. We were a small year group, and so we could create strong bonds in a short time even though our interests were very diverse. It was a particularly interesting experience to belong to this specific Master's programme within the large Sciences Po family, and to be able to benefit both from the small-team spirit and Sciences Po’s infrastructure.

What is your current role?

I am currently taking a year out from my Master's degree in public policy to do an internship as a parliamentary assistant at the French National Assembly. I now participate in the work of the Institut Montaigne as an assistant researcher in the department concerned with territorial development and human capital, at the intersection of my training at the School of Research and the School of Public Affairs.

What were the main stages in the construction of your career plans?

How economic decisions are made, the role of educational policies in the construction of society, biopolitics, and the relationship of individuals to the State were all central themes in my reflections as an apprentice historian, and the basis from which I questioned myself about the profession I wanted to practice. My resulting career plan focused on social and environmental policies and, more generally, around the broader theme of development. I sought out internships that would allow me to directly confront major public policy challenges, whether by participating in the launch of a CSR policy incentive programme within the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, or by working alongside a member of parliament and member of the social affairs committee who is involved in the issues of disability and the social acceptability of transitions.

What have been the contributions of your education to the position you hold today?

The History Master’s gave me a lot of transferrable skills, which I make use of daily: knowing how to find information, build a hypothesis, exercise critical thinking skills. The links between the Master's degree in History and the other social sciences also give an in-depth understanding of the major issues around which our public policies are built. Above all, the training offered by the School of Research gives a decided advantage for working in this field: it teaches you to think in depth and not to be tempted to superficiality.

Would you have any advice to give to a student who wants to go into the field in which you work today?

I believe social science students wishing to build a career in the field of public policy design and evaluation must be able to combine the researcher’s breadth of vision with practical problem-solving skills. Training through research opens up many avenues, but extra effort is required to navigate the jungle of possibilities and defy clichés that still too often circulate about academic research.