UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 VINCENNES SAINT-DENIS

Their core work

Université Paris 8 is a French public university in Saint-Denis with a strong tradition in social sciences, humanities, and critical theory. Within H2020, their research focuses on democratic participation, citizen engagement, open science strategies, and socio-environmental justice — particularly the intersection of gender, indigenous rights, and environmental struggles. They bring expertise in deliberative democracy research and inclusive research methodologies, contributing both as project coordinators and consortium partners in society-oriented EU initiatives.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

All five projects started between 2021 and 2022, so the timeline is compressed rather than spanning the full H2020 period — Paris 8 appears to have entered H2020 relatively late. Early keywords center on European democratic processes (deliberative democracy, polarization, public opinion, European identity), while more recent work expands toward global justice themes (indigenous women, extractivism, feminist epistemologies) and institutional research reform (open science, citizen science, human capital inclusion). The shift suggests a broadening from European political theory toward decolonial and participatory research approaches.

Paris 8 is moving toward integrating participatory governance with open science and social justice, making them a strong fit for future projects combining citizen engagement with inclusive research design.

How they like to work

Paris 8 splits evenly between coordinating and participating, with 2 projects as coordinator and 2 as participant (plus 1 as third party). With 40 unique consortium partners across 22 countries, they operate in broad, internationally diverse consortia rather than tight recurring clusters. This indicates an organization comfortable both leading and contributing, with a wide but likely shallow network — useful as a bridge to French social science expertise within large European partnerships.

Paris 8 has collaborated with 40 distinct partners across 22 countries, indicating a genuinely pan-European network with significant geographic breadth for a university of its size. Their reach extends beyond Europe through projects like AWAREFOREST (Ecuadorian Amazon focus).

What sets them apart

Paris 8 occupies a distinctive niche at the crossroads of democratic theory, feminist epistemology, and participatory research — a combination few other French universities offer within H2020. Their willingness to coordinate projects on both European governance reform (ReERUA) and Global South socio-environmental justice (AWAREFOREST) shows unusual intellectual range. For consortium builders, they bring credibility in critical social science and strong connections to both European university alliances and non-European research contexts.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ReERUA
  Largest project (EUR 494K) where Paris 8 served as coordinator, focused on research strategy and open science for the European Reform University Alliance — signals institutional leadership ambitions.
• AWAREFOREST
  Coordinated MSCA fellowship combining feminist epistemologies with Amazonian indigenous knowledge — unusual topic for a French university, demonstrating global South research connections.
• EUCOMMEET
  Multi-level deliberative democracy study across Europe, directly addressing polarization and public opinion — their most politically relevant project.