IMéRA - Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University
Deadline
open

IMERA Core fellowship 2026-2027

For 2026-27 academic year, Iméra, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) of Aix Marseille Université, is opening six residency places for academic researchers, each lasting 5 or 10 months. Of these, the Fulbright / Iméra Chair in Migration Studies and the Friche La Belle de Mai / Iméra residency are the subject of separate calls, which will close in the second half of September 2025. All these residencies are divided into four programmes (“Arts & sciences: undisciplined knowledge”, “Interdisciplinary explorations”, “Mediterranean” and “Necessary utopias”).

Fulbright/Iméra in Migration Studies
  • 1 or 2 grants to be awarded
  • For established scholars
  • Residency duration: 5 or 10 months
  • Possibilities : from September 2026 to June 2027 / from September 2026 to January 2027 / from February to June 2027.
Chair details

Chair activities

Conduct research in any discipline related to migration studies at Iméra, the Institute for Advanced Study of Aix Marseille Université, and co-direct the Iméra/Fulbright research cycle on migration studies, in collaboration with local colleagues.

Location

Iméra is part of Aix Marseille Université (amU), a leading research university. amU makes a major contribution to the knowledge economy and the dissemination of knowledge, providing fundamental disciplinary and interdisciplinary research into societal problems. It is associated with major national and international research players, with whom it develops and implements a scientific strategy.

Iméra is anchored at the heart of an exceptional reservoir of archives: the municipal and departmental archives of Marseille, the archives of the Mucem (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisation), the archives of the ANOM (Archives nationales d’outre-mer, archives of the former French colonial empire), and the Albert Camus archives in Aix-en-Provence, to name a few.

Cultural and scientific framework

The city of Marseille encompasses diverse and contrasting geographical territories (sea, mountains and urban areas) and has an archaeological, natural and cultural heritage that encourages the development of interdisciplinary projects.

Structured around 114 research units, seven research federations and around a hundred accredited platforms, Aix Marseille Université has remarkable scientific potential in fundamental and applied research, which is both interdisciplinary and supported by solid disciplinary sectors (five major sectors: Sciences, Arts, Languages, Literature and Humanities, Law and Political Science, Health, Economics and Management).

Today, amU is a research-intensive university that has forged privileged partnerships around the world, asserted its roots and territorial integration, and ranks among the top French universities in international rankings.

Duration and period of residence

The scholarship can be awarded for 10 months (September-June) or 5 months (September-January or February-June).

Areas of interest

All areas related to the study of population migration (in particular migration around and through the Mediterranean region).

Applications demonstrating interdisciplinarity, originality, a strong potential for collaboration and themes linked to the Institute’s priorities are particularly welcome.

Accommodation and housing conditions
Accommodation is provided by the host institution for the researcher and his/her family. Assistance will be provided to help the researcher enrol his/her children in local schools, if necessary.

The Institute for Advanced Study of Aix Marseille Université (Iméra) is located in a large park in the heart of Marseille and comprises two main buildings: the Maison des astronomes, the historic headquarters of the Observatoire built during the Second Empire, and a modern building from the 1960s where astronomers and astrophysicists worked (renovated and inaugurated in June 2015).

Iméra now has 14 flats, two seminar rooms (50 and 30 places), offices and meeting rooms, as well as convivial areas. It offers an exceptional setting for welcoming residents and building an interdisciplinary scientific community.

Iméra provides residents with fully-equipped flats, complete with linen and towels, some of which can accommodate families. The allocation of accommodation is at the sole discretion of Iméra, which makes every effort to accommodate all residents. Pets are not permitted.

For more information on campus life, visit this page.

Residents also have access to a fully equipped office in a large shared space. Iméra is also in the process of creating a space for artistic research and production.

Requirements

Citizenship/Residence

Candidates residing in the country of the Chair at the time of application or subsequently are not eligible. Permanent residents of the country of the Chair are not eligible.

Invitation

Optional: A letter of invitation from a researcher or teacher-researcher from the Aix-Marseille site and/or a letter of recommendation from a university researcher or an artist recognised in his or her field, in connection with the field in which the project falls.

Language proficiency

English is sufficient. However, the feasibility of carrying out the project must be demonstrated in the project declaration.

French language skills are desirable because of Iméra’s bilingual environment: for example, weekly seminars are held in French and English. Laureates who are not fluent in French are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the language during their stay, if not before.

Further information

Applicants must be affiliated to a higher education institution.

Iméra is the Institute for Advanced Study of Aix Marseille Université, the largest French-speaking university in the world. Iméra welcomes researchers from all over the world involved in interdisciplinary research projects for short stays.

Recipients should expect to participate in weekly meetings with other resident researchers to strengthen Iméra’s scientific community.

More information on the call
Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Centre for Advanced Study Sofia Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Collegium de Lyon Collegium Helveticum Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies IMéRA - Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University Institut d'études avancées de Nantes Institut d'études avancées de Paris Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University Instituto di Studi Avanzati di Bologna Israel Institute for Advanced Studies Madrid Institute for Advanced Study Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences New Europe College Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Zukunftskolleg
Deadline
open

Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) Programme 2026 - 2028

Goals

The aim of the CAT initiative is to foster networks of excellent early-career researchers dedicated to devising new ideas to understand and to tackle current or emerging societal challenges. Although the programme has a strong focus on the societal relevance of the projects, it is entirely blue sky, bottom-up and non-thematic. CAT encourages a collaboration with stakeholders outside academia (industry, policymakers, NGOs…) who are willing to support or engage in innovative research initiatives.

In order to engage in fruitful discussions and mature their ideas, the groups will be given the opportunity to meet for short stays in different participating institutes, and to be put in contact with the institutes’ fellows and local research communities.

With few guidelines and a very light application process, CAT is designed to maximize the creativity of research groups. This call has been incubated in the Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NETIAS) and also involves institutes beyond the network. The collaboration between several institutes in different countries aims at giving these groups access to a great variety of high-level thinkers and researchers in order to go beyond the current frontiers of knowledge and to develop highly innovative ideas on how to address very complex societal issues.

Support

CAT will provide teams of early-career researchers (three to five persons) time and space for thought and discussion in the best research environments Europe has to offer. The groups may include one representative of a stakeholder organization related to the theme of the project. During a period of up to three years, teams will benefit from a series of short stays (i.e. between one and two weeks, two to three times a year, for a maximum of six stays) in institutes participating in the program (see list below). Online meetings and digital research stays at the institutes are possible alternatives to onsite stays and can complete the work and time plan of CAT groups.

CAT will cover travel and accommodation expenses for the team meetings/short work stays in the participating institutes. CAT will not fund salaries or research-related expenses.

The participating institutes will support the teams by connecting them with the most knowledgeable and experienced researchers onsite as well as digitally, and by helping them valorise the obtained results through their legitimating channels. During their stay, CAT teams will benefit from the institutes’ amenities and conviviality for work and exchanges. Discussions at the institutes will provide a unique sounding board for innovative ideas and will give valuable feedback.

Obligations

At mid-term, the continuation of the institute’s support to the team’s work will be subject to approval after evaluation of a short progress report.

At the end of their project, in addition to the organization of (a) final meeting(s) presenting the results, the CAT teams will be expected to produce a final report in the form of a text, video, website or other media, that will be made public.

In keeping with the policies of the participating institutes, the researchers keep the intellectual property rights to their work.

Eligiblity

The project must address emergent societal issues.

  • The Principal Investigator (team leader) must have a stable research position in a European (EU as well as UK and associated countries) higher education and/or research institution for the entire duration of the project.
  • S/he must have obtained a PhD between January 2016 and September 2025.         
  • No team member should have obtained his/her PhD before January 2016. Doctoral researchers may also participate.
  • The eligibility can be extended beyond 10 years after the PhD for any member of the group for certain properly documented circumstances such as maternity and paternity leaves, clinical training, long-term illness, national service, natural disaster or seeking asylum.
  • There is no specific diploma or age requirement for representatives of stakeholder organizations.
  • Each team should include participants from at least two different countries (current workplace, including non-European countries; any nationality).
  • The team of 3 to 5 persons (stakeholders included) must be fully constituted, with CVs of all members named in the proposal.
Schedule

Deadline for applications: 14 October 2025, 15:00 CET

Successful applications will be notified by the end of January, 2026

Stays in participating institutes will take place between January 2026 and December 2028.

More information on the call
IMéRA - Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University
Deadline
open

Mawjaat: Creative Hubs for Cultural Transitions in the Mediterranean

Friche la Belle de Mai is joining forces with Iméra, the Institut for Advanced Study (IEA) of Aix Marseille Université, as part of a cooperation project in partnership with the French cultural network abroad and with the support of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs: “Mawjaat : Creative Hubs for Cultural Transitions in the Mediterranean“ This project is part of a drive to strengthen links between cultural creative hubs in five countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon, as well as France.

More information
eligibility

Candidates meeting these 5 conditions are eligible:

  • The selected candidate must have the administrative and consular capacity to travel to the six countries concerned (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and France).
  • Proven scientific excellence in one of the areas of research related to creative hubs, third places, hybrid spaces, their narratives and functions.
  • Not have been resident in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years preceding the call for applications
  • Hold a doctorate or Ph.D. or have 6 years’ research experience after obtaining a Master’s degree
  • The candidate must have the legal status to enter into a contract for the provision of a service.
  • Language skills: English, French (full professional written skills and full oral comprehension) and literary Arabic (spoken) or, failing that, dialectal Arabic spoken in one of the project countries.
background to the action research

In a context of cultural solidarity in the southern Mediterranean region, this project aims to support and strengthen, as well as nurture, a common reflection on cultural transitions based on a community of creative hubs, hybrid spaces and creative hubs. Mawjaat encourages regional cooperation between these key players in the cultural landscape on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, places for reflection and experimentation around shared development issues: social innovation, citizen participation, digital culture and ecological transformation.

Over a two-year period (May 2025-May 2027), Mawjaat will help to create regional Mediterranean expertise and support this community of creative hubs in its role as a creative and innovative laboratory, in particular through the implementation of a programme of experimental grants and the organisation of thematic workshops.

Description of the action research

The result of a partnership between Friche la Belle de Mai and Iméra, the research-action carried out in year 1 (January 2026 to January 2027) will combine field surveys in the five partner countries, an analysis of the regional ecosystem of creative hubs and the production of a deliverable[1] presenting the results of the research. The research will culminate in a 5-month residency at Iméra (Marseille), scheduled for year 2 (February to June 2027).

The candidate is expected to develop research in co-construction with the partner creative hubs and in dialogue with the scientific team (“Mediterranean” and “Arts & Sciences: Indisciplined knowledge” programmes) and the Iméra community. This collective dimension and the field surveys will have to be made explicit in the project. The project will indicate the working methods envisaged as part of this immersion research.

The main thrusts of the action research are as follows:

  • To study and analyse the role and contribution of creative hubs in the five countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon) to the cultural, social, ecological and economic transformations taking place in the region.

NB: The pilot creative hubs will already be identified at the start of the research, the final list will be communicated to the applicant who remains free to work with other players in these ecosystems.

  • Understand their role as catalysts for innovation, co-creation, participative and inclusive culture and as levers for digital and ecological transition.
  • Exploring their capacity to produce and disseminate knowledge that is situated and rooted in local areas, and their role in building local solutions to global challenges.
  • Identify their contribution to emerging civic dynamics.

The thematic orientations proposed below are intended as food for thought. They are not exhaustive: the candidate is free to add to them and to propose other angles of analysis consistent with the objectives of the programme.

The political, social, economic and climatic challenges facing the Mediterranean region have given rise to new forms of reflection, action and commitment within cultural communities, making these civil society players the spokespeople for change.

Commonly referred to as Tiers-Lieux or Creative hubs, these collectives are accompanying the changes in societies in the southern Mediterranean by taking up often sensitive issues relating to youth, education, gender, innovation and the environment.

Outside the institutional channels that favour a more traditional vision of culture, they are moving into new areas and bringing with them a community of players and users who share practices that illustrate a different vision of the social role of culture. These creative hubs, whether already established or in the process of being set up, are home to a host of initiatives and are becoming multiform and hybrid focal points, enabling a cultural offering to exist and social and entrepreneurial support to take root in these areas.

Artists’ studios, broadcasting spaces, rehearsal rooms, fablabs, digital spaces, gardens, etc. Creative hubs are places for mixing and mingling, reinventing ways of passing on knowledge, fostering collective intelligence and encouraging citizen participation – places that are playing an increasingly important role in the cultural, social and economic transformation of a region.

This research-action project is open to a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches in the humanities and social sciences, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Sociology,
  • Anthropology,
  • Geography,
  • History,
  • Ethnology,
  • Social and solidarity economy, among others.
The stages of action research
  • Internal seminar organised at the launch of the research (end of October/November 2025): meeting with partners and the scientific team, open discussion on the subject of the research.
  • Field surveys (between January 2026 and January 2027): a mission lasting around two months in each country to meet and research the pilot third places and their ecosystem.
  • Residency at Iméra (4 February to 30 June 2027): these five months of residency at Iméra devoted to research should enable the candidate to meet and share his or her work with the Institute’s international and interdisciplinary community of residents, to structure and write up the results of his or her investigation and, finally, to think about the formats for the deliverable he or she wishes to present.