Iméra Aix Marseille

Iméra is a University-Based Institute for Advanced Study (UBIAS). Conceived in 2007, it was incorporated in 2013 as a scientific foundation into Aix Marseille University, the largest French university with more than 130 research structures in all the fields of scientific inquiry, labelled IDEX-Initiative d'excellence in 2012 and fully endowed in 2016. 

Iméra has built close partnerships with major French research institutions such as the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), and Sciences Po Aix as well as international research institutions, such as the Fulbright Franco-American Commission. It has also a history of engagement with the local, regional and national art scenes such as the Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (Mucem), and an engagement with civil society. 

The Institute hosts researchers – academic scholars and artists – from all disciplines and promotes ambitious interdisciplinary approaches. Residents develop their own research projects in conjunction with teams and research labs in Aix Marseille University. What is distinctive about Iméra is the collaborations between artists and academic scholars as well as the relationship between the humanities and social sciences on the one hand and the exact sciences on the other hand.

Located on extensive grounds in the heart of Marseille nearby the Parc Longchamp, Iméra comprises two main buildings—a large 19th century house called Maison des Astronomes (Astronomers' House) and a vast university building dating from the 1960s. 

The FIAS fellows will be accommodated in apartments for 1 to 5 people on the same site as the Institute and its collective working spaces. Residents also have access to an equipped desk in a large open common space, meeting rooms, a conference room (50 seats) and recreation areas. 

For artists, Iméra provides a modular studio space, intended to be shared, whose walls can be fully used for their research. The fellows have also access to the whole system of Aix Marseille University’s libraries.

Seeking balance between individual excellence and collective intelligence, Iméra now sees itself as a sanctuary of intellectual freedom where a temporary community of high-level international scientists and artists can find the time, the space and resources needed to discover, individually and with others, new meaning and content for original interdisciplinary research. 

Therefore Iméra is keen to ensure that fellows engage in the collective activities of the residence, including the Community Building Seminar, which is one of the central activities, held each week (all day Thursday). The time investment amounts to one day per week in total. 

An active knowledge of French and/or English (written and spoken) is essential. Linguistic skills in both languages are desirable due to the bilingual context of Iméra: for example, the weekly seminar (see below) is held in both languages. Fellows who are not fluent in French are encouraged to familiarize themselves with it during their stay, if not beforehand. 

Iméra promotes innovative experimental interdisciplinary approaches in all areas of knowledge. Artists holding a PhD, and developing approaches at the intersection of art and science, are eligible for the FIAS call.

The Iméra programs

Iméra residences are structured around four scientific programs: (i) Arts and Sciences: Indisciplined Knowledge (ii) Interdisciplinary Explorations (iii) Mediterranean (iv) Necessary Utopias. 

The thematic coherence of the project with the program guidelines is a decisive element in the evaluation of the application.

Arts and Sciences: Indisciplined Knowledge
The programme "Arts & Sciences: Indisciplined knowledge" is open to scholars working on art as well as with art, and to artists engaged in situated research from an artistic practice. Instead of being a residency for the production of works or an exhibition, it offers space for research, elaboration and experimentation free from the constraints linked to the final result. At a general level, this program recognizes the contributions of art to interdisciplinary and societal issues with multiple dimensions, ranging from individual construction to major social, political, identity-related challenges. Collectively led by all the members of the Iméra scientific team, this program is transversal in the sense that each of the fellowships it hosts is also closely connected to a topic related to one of the three other programs of Iméra (below). Therefore, any candidate interested in this program is also encouraged to identify one of the other three Iméra programs in order to propose a project that combines characteristics of both.

Contact: constance.moreteau@univ-amu.fr
Link: https://www.imera.fr/en/research-programmes/arts-sciences-indisciplined-knowledge/

Interdisciplinary Dialogues
The program is open to researchers who have a strong interest in the interplay and dialogue between different disciplines, whatever those disciplines may be (humanities, social sciences, natural and environmental sciences, arts, etc.). Proposals must present an interdisciplinary dimension addressing either a specific topic, methodological issues, or both. Projects involving discussions on the practices and ethics of interdisciplinarity, as well as its legitimacy, are welcome. Priority will be given to projects by researchers who have previously produced innovative and original results in their own field through dialogue with another discipline; however, new research challenges fitting within the framework of an IAS fellowship will also be favorably considered. This program may also host scientific or artistic projects related to the theories, practices, and limitations of interdisciplinarity in academic research and higher education teaching. Potential research projects may include concept transfers, models of interdisciplinarity, critical analyses of interdisciplinary analogies, and intersections of the natural and human sciences.

Contact: maxime.nicolas@univ-amu.fr
Link: : https://www.imera.fr/en/research-programmes/explorations-of-interdisciplinarity/

Mediterranean
The Mediterranean world has been a dynamic crossroads for the circulation of people, merchandise, objects, and ideas for thousands of years. Historical developments in the Mediterranean continue to shape the sea and the contemporary world in many ways. The Mediterranean program considers Mediterranean cultures and societies from antiquity to the present, and explores this maritime world through innovative research, historical interpretations, and interdisciplinary analyses. The programme utilizes global and comparative analyses to develop new ways of understanding Mediterranean societies and their relations with the entire world. Based on these interdisciplinary reflections, the Mediterranean program welcomes new studies that are essential for understanding the development of societies and environments in the contemporary Mediterranean. The central axes of research for the Mediterranean program are: oceanic spaces, littoral communities, cultural exchanges, belief systems, and maritime conflicts. The program invites new scientific research and creative projects on all dimensions of human societies and marine ecologies in the Mediterranean world.

Contact: brian.sandberg@univ-amu.fr
Link: https://www.imera.fr/en/research-programmes/mediterranean/

Necessary Utopias
The program welcomes academics and artists from all disciplines. Necessary utopias are global and local challenges that contemporary society considers decisive and desirable to meet, because of their unquestionable urgency, but impossible to win without actually acting and thinking differently. The program takes a specifical approach to these issues, so that they can inspire not only fear, indifference, denial and resignation, but also hope. It identifies in an Institute for advanced study in a city like Marseille, one of the places where it is perhaps most likely that these necessary utopias will be discerned or invented. The fields of invention and application envisaged by the program include, but are not limited to: war and peace, the crisis of political participation, social hope and collective intelligence, work, the urban question and ecological crises, health, migration, economic and social inequalities, education.

Contact: enrico.donaggio@univ-amu.fr
Link: https://www.imera.fr/en/research-programmes/necessary-utopias/