Mission

The digital revolution makes it possible to collect and process massive amounts of heterogeneous data, removing the limitations of traditional observation methods and preparing the ground for significant progress in the social sciences.

Data sciences not only contribute to advances in the social sciences, but the knowledge and observation capacities developed can be useful for helping economic, political, and social actors better understand and steer the transformations under way.

The Institute directly brings together around 30 scientific project leaders, who in turn mobilise a community of approximately 60 senior and 30 junior scientific researchers—a workforce that is slated to grow. They notably hold five teaching and research chairs and are in charge of more than ten projects financed by the European Commission or the French National Research Agency.

This research capacity in the social sciences (economics, management, sociology, political science, and behavioural sciences) hinges on a team of data science engineers, a computing centre, and massive, secure data storage capacity.

These resources form the core of a platform that promotes synergies between social, economic, and political actors who pool their know-how in order to make scientific advances and develop knowledge and tools useful for decision-making or public debate, in particular on the following subjects:

• threats to social and political cohesion and the tools to resolve them
• the ecologic transition and the quest for more sustainable development models
• the digital transformation and the associated organisational and governance models
• the challenges of economic efficiency and competition in a global economy.

In all these areas, citizens and economic and social actors are also expressing a demand for a renewal of governance practices and a need for a redesign of the international order.