A Tribute to Scientific Achievement: A Research University Celebrating Its Own Researchers

A Tribute to Scientific Achievement:
A Research University Celebrating Its Own Researchers

This year’s School of Research Inaugural Lecture turns the spotlight inward. Rather than an outside guest speaker, we’re celebrating our own permanent faculty: four researchers who have each just been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) grant, one of the most competitive and prestigious distinctions in scientific research.

Join us for a roundtable where our four laureates, working in economics, sociology, and political science, take on some of today's most pressing societal challenges: the green transition and its backlash of anti-climate attitudes and radical right support; elections, social capital, and ecological inference; the efficiency-redistribution trade-off; and discrimination and inequality. They will speak about their research and their project, followed by an open exchange on why research matters and why it deserves to be defended.

Our four ERC laureates:

Diane Bolet, Assistant Professor at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE), has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for her project “Lost in the Green Transition: Local Collective Greenloss Identity, Anti-Climate Attitudes and Radical Right Support”. This grant will allow her to deepen her research on the repercussions of climate policies for fossil-fuel-dependent communities in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland. A political scientist, Diane Bolet specialises in electoral behaviour, public opinion, and territorial and climate public policies.

Julia Cagé, Professor in the Department of Economics, has received an ERC Consolidator Grant for her project “Elections, Ecological Inference and Social Capital in Historical Perspective”. This grant will enable her to investigate the historical evolution of political cleavages and socio-economic inequalities in the United States and Europe, while proposing innovative solutions to long-standing problems of ecological inference. A social scientist, Julia Cagé conducts research in political economy and economic history, with a particular focus on media economics, political participation, and voting behaviour. In 2021, she received an ERC Starting Grant for a project examining the behaviour of small donors in Western Europe and North America, as well as the lack of representativeness among candidates and elected officials.

Axelle Ferrière, CNRS research fellow and member of the Department of Economics, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for her project “Rethinking the Efficiency-Redistribution Trade-Off: Taxes, Transfers, and Household Inequality”. This grant will allow her to shed new light on tax and transfer policies that reconcile redistribution and economic growth. The project will focus on income support for low-income households, wealth taxation, and consumption taxes. A macroeconomist, Axelle Ferrière works primarily on the evaluation of fiscal and budgetary policies and their redistributive effects. In 2025, she received the CNRS Bronze Medal, which recognises the excellence and vitality of the research undertaken by early-career scholars.

Mirna Safi, Professor at the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS), has received an ERC Advanced Grant for her project “The Discrimination-Inequality Circle: Bridging Unequal Treatment and Unequal Outcomes across Countries, Regions and Workplaces”. This grant will enable her to advance knowledge of the mechanisms linking discrimination and inequality, their historical evolution across 35 countries, and the effectiveness of policies designed to address these persistent societal challenges. A sociologist, Mirna Safi’s research focuses on migration, labour-market inequalities, discrimination, and urban segregation. Former Director of CRIS (2019–2024), she contributes actively to international research on migration and social inequalities.

Moderated by Dina Waked, Dean of the School of Research and Professor of Law at Sciences Po.

Event schedule

• 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Introduction and welcome message by Dina Waked
• 10:10 am - 11:45 am: Roundtable with Diane Bolet, Julia Cagé, Axelle Ferrière & Mirna Safi
• 11:45 am - 12:15 pm: Q&A session with the audience

This event is reserved for Sciences Po students and staff.