The CNRS invites its directors: taking stock of an exceptional day

At the start of December, the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris hosted key research stakeholders with several hundred directors CNRS laboratories there to attend an exceptional convention. For Antoine Petit, the organisation's Chairman and CEO, the day was intended to be a "time for information and exchange" with staff members who "don't have the easiest jobs". Marc Auriacombe, director of Bordeaux's Sleep, Addiction and Neuropsychiatry Laboratory1  told us it was "impressive to see all the directors together. It gives a better idea of the scale of the CNRS and the diversity of our disciplines."

The CNRS's unit directors had of course attended the 80th anniversary event but, with 2024 drawing to a close, it seemed an appropriate time to share the CNRS's strategic roadmap, priority projects and international ambitions for the years to come with them. At the end of December, the CNRS and the French government will indeed sign the organisation's upcoming contract of objectives, resources and performance (COMP).

• 1CNRS/University of Bordeaux.

The contract structured the presentations given on the day. Key issues for the organisation and its staff were discussed, including the attractiveness of careers for scientists and technicians, improving working conditions and simplifying procedures (a number of announcements were greeted with applause from the audience), the organisation's disability plan, international scientific cooperation policy featuring a new representative office opening in Kenya, the environmental transition and so forth. "These announcements are very interesting for us as directors. They give us the chance to transmit the news to our teams and anticipate upcoming changes", explains Catherine Leblanc, who will take over as the head of the Laboratory of Integrative Biology of Marine Models1  in Roscoff in January. Martin Lamotte, the future director of the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Politique2  in Paris, views things similarly: "Seeing the CNRS's institutional machinery from the inside is always instructive and it's nice to be spoken to directly."

Six transversal challenges

Human resources issues are a priority in the COMP but of course research remains the core profession within the organisation. "We need more science and more basic research. Our role is immense and must remain our guiding light including - and especially - in these difficult times we are living through", said Antoine Petit, urging attendees to show that "behind the major issues facing society, there is science to be done".

The upcoming COMP sets out 43 thematic priorities and also highlights six major transversal challenges "to which the organisation aims to make substantial medium-term contributions by involving all our disciplines", explains Alain Schuhl, the CNRS's Deputy CEO for Science. These 6 challenges are the brain, materials of the future, life in the Universe, instrumentation without limits, generative AI for science and societies in transition. As the six social challenges set out in the CNRS's 2019-2023 Objectives and Performance Contract which created "a true dynamic", the 6 new challenges will help structure scientific communities. A significant proportion of new recruitments of permanent researchers will be dedicated to them although Alain Schuhl points out that "of course, they only represent part of the CNRS's activities."

• 1CNRS/Sorbonne University.
• 2Political Anthropology Laboratory - interdisciplinary critical approaches to contemporary worlds (CNRS/EHESS).

The second main announcement involved the creation of the 'CNRS Keylabs' label. Antoine Petit explained that, to respond effectively to international competition, the CNRS needs to avoid "diluting its action" and instead "construct critical masses" and "focus specific efforts on a smaller number of units that can legitimately claim to be 'world-class'". The laboratories selected will be "the best placed to respond rapidly to the demands of international competition and the challenges facing our nation, as the flagships for French research capable of attracting the best scientists, particularly by concentrating the most effective scientific and technological platforms". Initially, a quarter of the 860+ units under CNRS supervisory authority will be awarded the label and thus benefit from enhanced support.

Europe, a CNRS priority 

Scientific presentations were also given throughout the day to reflect "our passions and our raison d'être", as Antoine Petit put it in his opening speech. Chihaya Adachi is a professor at Japan's Kyushu University, director of the Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA), co-pilot of the International Research Project LUX ERIT and one of the CNRS's Fellow-Ambassadors. He is notably behind the development of the third generation of light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and presented his research on organic semiconductor materials, stressing how important international collaboration with France is.

A session on European issues was also an opportunity for two winners of European Research Council (ERC) funding to share their experiences. Stéphane Pellerin, director of the Research Group on the Energetics of Ionized Media1  based in Orléans, told us that this presentation "demystified" ERC grant awards and "showed how they can represent a real collective effort that involves the whole laboratory".

It was also an opportunity for Alain Schuhl to remind those present that the CNRS "has always been the biggest beneficiary by far" of European framework programmes that celebrated their 40th anniversary this year. The CNRS accounts for half of French winners and has a higher success rate than the European average. However, "given the level required to obtain a CNRS post, all new entrants should submit an ERC application within three years" argues the Deputy CEO for Science, citing the CNRS strategy in this area.

• 1CNRS/University of Orléans.

The organisation is working with its partners to prepare the upcoming framework programme, following on from Horizon Europe as "it is the CNRS's responsibility to contribute to European research," as Alain Schuhl confirmed. Isabelle Ryl, the director of the PaRis Artificial Intelligence Research InstitutE, accepted the CNRS's invitation to present the conclusions of the group of experts (of which she was a member) mandated by the European Commission on the mid-term evaluation and future of Horizon Europe. This expert group made 12 recommendations on how to optimise the programme in a "tense" geopolitical and financial context but she considers the framework programme to be already "effective and producing good results". "Research and innovation both start with fundamental research and have been given a new lease of life", explains the researcher who nevertheless hopes Europe will find a way to deal with "waves of crises and technological advances that do not fit into the timeframe of a framework programme".

Developing scientific culture

Another highlight of the day came with round table discussions that focused on the dialogue between science and society, including both the general public and political decision-makers. Two "hyperactive" researchers, Jean-Michel Courty and Audrey Dussutour, winners of the CNRS Mediation Medal, shared their experiences. "I have the same passion for science and sharing it", explained the head of the citizen science project 'Derrière le blob, la recherche', going on to opine that "nowadays, scientific outreach work is given value in activity assessment reports so thank you the CNRS!" Jean-Michel Courty, who is also the commissioner working on the renovation of the 'Palais de la découverte', announced the creation of "guidelines" to help researchers present such work in their assessment files.

Three members of the French Parlement attended another round table to discuss the contribution science can make to public policy. Céline Calvez, the MP for the Hauts-de-Seine region told the researchers present that "we need your input to understand technological developments and develop our critical faculties". 

Everyone agreed on at least one point, namely that scientific culture is struggling to develop. For example, scientists are under-represented in the media, even on subjects where research is central. And yet "we are living in a period when society has never needed science more", as Antoine Petit put it, pointing out that the CNRS watchword – 'basic research at the service of society'- "has never been more topical". Scientists that speak in the media help combat misinformation, encourage the development of critical thinking, raise public awareness of the major issues the world is facing and encourage citizens to become more actively involved in developing effective solutions. 

To help researchers invited by the media deal as calmly as possible with the experience - which, Antoine Petit considers to be "neither an easy thing to do nor an obligation" - the CNRS is designing a 'toolbox' to clarify their rights and duties. This CNRS guide to such forms of speaking in public is in line with the CNRS Ethics Committee's opinion on the subject and will be available shortly.

From basic science to its applications

Innovation was also in the spotlight, ranging from public-private partnerships to joint laboratories and start-ups. Antoine Petit considers the latter (which are often deeptech) to have an "exceptional" lifespan at the CNRS, stressing that "the CNRS has been working with industry for a long time on jointly-developed issues" and that start-ups are clear examples of the "real added value for companies" that the CNRS represents, including in terms of social innovations.

The CNRS shares the management of over 300 joint laboratories with industry, half of which are run with major corporations. Michelin's Managing Chairman and General Partner Florent Ménégaux clearly demonstrated this "added value'' in his presentation, with Antoine Petit concluding that "these partnerships are a strategic step towards making sure basic research truly does serve society."

Four ambassadors also shared their thoughts on how to better reconcile research and innovation. Claire Hellio, a professor at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale and researcher at the Laboratory of Environmental Marine Sciences, told those present that "there's a continuum: the maturation of a basic research project through the development of new applications leads to the emergence of new research themes".

The day concluded with exchanges around awards presented by the organisation, demonstrating the continuity between fundamental research and innovation in the service of society that only the CNRS can offer. This year's CNRS Innovation Medals were awarded to the chemist Cyril Aymonier1 , the physicist Lydéric Bocquet2  and the quantum physicist Eleni Diamanti3 . As this year is the 70th anniversary of the CNRS gold medal, France's most valued scientific award, the honour went to the biologist Edith Heard, director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and a professor at the Collège de France.

• 1Cyril Aymonier is a CNRS research professor and the director of the Bordeaux Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry (CNRS/Bordeaux INP/University of Bordeaux).
• 2Lydéric Bocquet is a CNRS research director working at the Physics Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure (CNRS/ENS-PSL/Sorbonne University/Université Paris Cité).
• 3Eleni Diamanti is a CNRS repository director at the LIP6 Computer Science Laboratory (CNRS/Sorbonne University).