IRIHS Goals and Missions

The IRIHS’s primary mission is to federate the University of Rouen’s diverse SHS laboratories around an integrative scientific project that highlights the IRIHS across the regional, national, and international landscapes. This means drawing on both the Institute’s own infrastructure and budget resources as well as on external financing sources so the various laboratories can strengthen their interdisciplinary culture and promote their work.

Developing national research networks
The currently available avenues for research funding via public and private agencies and structures mean that supplementary finance is necessary outside of what the IRIHS own budget can provide (ANR – the French National Research Agency, calls for specific themed research projects, etc.).
The IRIHS encourages and supports educator-researchers to participate in calls for projects across all domains

Raising the international profile.
 Together with the relevant University of Rouen (URN) departments, the IRIHS encourages international research e.g. European Commission project tenders, researcher mobility and so on, by way of scholarships and mobility programmes currently in place.
The IRIHS also focuses on raising the international profile of its researchers’ scientific work by financing their translation into various languages (publications, articles).

Strengthening institutional partnerships
Research projects have enabled the IRIHS to consolidate and extend relationships with local cultural and social-economic partners, including libraries, museums, ANRU (the National Urban Regeneration Agency), urban agencies, local authorities, the Pôle Emploi (the national employment agency), DIRECCTE (the regional business, competition, consumer, employment agency), ARACT (the regional association for improving employment conditions), the Rectorat de Rouen (Rouen education authority), the Inspection académique (education inspectorate), ARS (Normandy regional health agency), CHU de Rouen (Rouen university hospitals), several associations, the DRDF (Normandy regional female rights), HF 76, and so on.

Project development support
Thanks to the partnership network the IRIHS has developed over time, access is available to a wealth of renowned technical and financial experience relating to the whole project landscape including recognition.
Together with services support from the URN, the IRIHS:

  • provides researchers with various tools including cross-discipline themed seminars,
  • mobilises scientific interest groups (e.g. Institut des Amériques – the Americas Institute, Institut du genre – the Gender Institute),
  • conducts project feasibility studies (guidelines, potential funding resources – the ANR, RIN – Normandy Interest Group Networks, monitoring of  calls for projects),
  • provides organizational assistance (partnership budgets, building case files, and so on),

Sharing technical resources
The IRIHS provides researchers with a digital resources centre as well as several training opportunities.

Spreading a scientific culture
The IRIHS offers its educator-researchers and SHS (Humanities and Social Sciences) doctoral students several avenues for knowledge dissemination, including the Fête de la science (Science Festival), the Rendez-vous de la Cervelle (The Brainpower Meeting), conferences for the general public, and so on.

The IRIHS provides financial support for seminars, publications, translation, research projects etc., not forgetting its own calls for projects.

The IRIHS' board sets out how funding should be attributed based on case file examinations.