RESEAU FRANCAIS DES INSTITUTS D'ETUDES AVANCEES

Their core work

RFIEA is the French Network of Institutes for Advanced Study — an umbrella organization that coordinates France's system of residential research institutes where international scholars pursue curiosity-driven research in the social sciences and humanities. They facilitate transnational researcher mobility, host visiting fellows for extended stays, and build interdisciplinary learning communities that bridge SSH disciplines. Beyond hosting researchers, they actively work on integrating social sciences and humanities into EU research policy, serving as a National Contact Point network partner for Societal Challenge 6.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2015-2019, RFIEA focused heavily on EU research policy infrastructure — supporting NCP networks, building SSH capacity, and helping researchers navigate funding opportunities for Societal Challenge 6. From 2020 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward research practice itself: hosting fellows through FIAS, promoting curiosity-driven and bottom-up research, and exploring citizen science and open science in SSH through COESO. The evolution is from policy support to direct research facilitation.

RFIEA is moving from behind-the-scenes EU policy coordination toward directly hosting and shaping interdisciplinary SSH research, with growing interest in citizen science and open science methods.

How they like to work

RFIEA mostly participates as a partner in large coordination and support networks (3 of 4 projects), contributing SSH expertise to broad consortia. Their one coordinator role — FIAS — is their flagship and by far their largest project (EUR 2.4M vs under EUR 50K for the others), suggesting they lead when the topic is core to their mission (researcher mobility). With 32 unique partners across 17 countries, they operate as a well-connected hub in the European SSH landscape.

RFIEA has collaborated with 32 distinct partners across 17 countries, reflecting a broad European network rooted in the social sciences and humanities community. Their connections span NCP offices, universities, and research institutes across the continent.

What sets them apart

RFIEA occupies a rare niche: it is not a university or a research institute itself, but the coordinating network for France's Institutes for Advanced Study — residential research centers that attract top international SSH scholars. This makes them a gateway to France's advanced study ecosystem and a natural broker for anyone building interdisciplinary SSH consortia. Their dual experience in EU policy support and direct fellowship management gives them both strategic and operational credibility in the humanities research space.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FIAS
  Their flagship project as coordinator (EUR 2.4M MSCA-COFUND), funding incoming transnational researcher mobility at French Institutes for Advanced Study — by far their largest investment.
• COESO
  Marks RFIEA's expansion into citizen science and open science applied to social sciences, signaling a new strategic direction beyond traditional fellowship hosting.