LE STUDIUM
LE STUDIUM is a regional agency acting for the capacity building and visibility of research in the Centre-Val de Loire region, hosting internationally renowned researchers across all scientific disciplines. LE STUDIUM's operations and services are based on the model of Anglo-Saxon institutes for advanced studies, making the institute a multidisciplinary platform for the research and innovation ecosystem in the Centre-Val de Loire region.
Researchers hosted in the framework of LE STUDIUM awards contribute to the development of scientific projects of interest to research organisations, the Universities of Orléans and Tours, and industries, from fundamental research to regional strategic priorities. These attractive awards enable them to devote themselves to their research work in Tours, Orleans, Blois, Chartres or Bourges under the best conditions. All the researchers receive support and assistance from the Euraxess Mobility Centre and a furnished accommodation.
Since 1996, nearly 230 researchers have been recruited and welcomed by LE STUDIUM, half of them coming from Europe, a quarter from North America and a quarter from Asia and Latin America.
They are performing their research work in the laboratories of the universities of Tours and Orléans, INSA, CNRS, INRAE, INSERM, BRGM and CEA Le Ripault and, for many of them, their stays have enabled them to forge long-lasting relationships with these laboratories.
To catalyse these profiles, LE STUDIUM issues an annual call for projects, the Smart Loire Valley Programme, and acts as a leading stakeholder in national and international partnership dynamics as part of the Ambition, Research and Development programmes supporting the regional smart specialisation strategy (S3).
LE STUDIUM is also involved alongside the competitiveness and economic clusters (Cosmetic Valley, Pôle Dream, S2E2, Polyméris, Polepharma, Végépolys, etc.) in the transfer of technologies for innovation and development.
The laboratories of the University of Tours have welcomed nearly 90 researchers in the framework of the LE STUDIUM residencies, in various fields ranging from the hard sciences to the human and social sciences.
Three LE STUDIUM Research Chairs have been awarded to the University of Tours:
- on Biodiversity, Prof Edward Mc Cauley from the University of Calgary (Canada) ;
- on Food, Prof J. Contreras from the University of Barcelona (Spain), which has led to the creation of a UNESCO Chair ;
- on Post-colonial Literature, Prof Chandani Lokuge from the University of Monash (Australia).
Five LE STUDIUM Research Professorhips have also enabled the University of Tours to receive for four consecutive years contributions from distinguished professors in Mathematics, Quantum physics, Biology and Human sciences. Prof. Gary Gibbons from the University of Cambridge, a British theoretical physicist member of the Royal Society, has become Honorary Professor of the University of Tours.
Every year, LE STUDIUM develops in parallel and organises numerous scientific events to which the national and international scientific communities are invited: LE STUDIUM Conferences, Workshops, Consortium.
These promote research works and foster to the development of networks. The LE STUDIUM Thursdays, monthly multidisciplinary seminars, highlight the research work carried out in the region by the hosted researchers and their regional correspondents and offer open spaces for intellectual and scientific exchanges.
In all its events, LE STUDIUM cultivates a trans- and interdisciplinary approach designed to broaden the scientific horizons of the researchers and to nurture interdisciplinary collaborative projects. This takes place at the heart of a network of future ambassadors of the institution, which takes advantage of the spirit and image that prevailed in the Loire Valley during the particularly fertile period of the Renaissance, reconnecting with a more "universal" man.
Finally, LE STUDIUM also contributes to the dissemination of scientific knowledge for the general public, whether informed or remote, who are always invited free of charge to attend public presentations given by high-level speakers in the framework of the LE STUDIUM Lectures or Rencontres Leonardo.
