Presentation of the LEST/Iméra – Worlds of labour chair
The National Center for Scientific Research’s Institute of Human and Social Sciences (InSHS) and Iméra are collaborating to offer a chair on “The Worlds of Labour.” The recipient of the LEST/Iméra chair will develop their research in collaboration with the LEST (Laboratory of Economics and Sociology of Work – UMR7317 CNRS-AMU). For InSHS, this chair is part of an effort to structure a national program dedicated to work as an object of research in the humanities and social sciences.
The LEST/Iméra chair “The Worlds of Labour” is open to researchers whose work addresses the human and social sciences of work (sociology, economics, political science, management science, law, history, geography, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, etc.).
This chair aims to promote research of excellence related to the challenges concerning the worlds of work that societies face (contemporary changes in the relationship between individuals and society with work, the link between work and subjectivities, innovations and experiments related to the meaning and organization of work, digitalization and work, risk management in work organizations, professional integration of young and older individuals, etc.).
All research projects will be considered, particularly those that demonstrate a certain degree of risk-taking to start a particularly innovative project related to the thematic program of Necessary Utopias in which this chair is situated.
For this year, projects analyzing the content, implementation, and impact of long-term unemployment reduction policies or those aligning with a perspective of the right to employment, such as the Territoire Zéro Chômeurs de Longue durée (TZCLD) experimentation in France or Belgium, are specifically expected. An international comparative approach would be appreciated.
Furthermore, the holder of the chair will be invited to interact with the Work Reflection Group established by InSHS to provide an international comparative perspective on their work aimed at drafting a White Paper on research on work in France by the end of 2024.
The chair holder is also expected to participate in the activities of ArTLib – Workshop on Work and Liberties – created in 2019 at Iméra. This is an interdisciplinary and international collective that aims to discuss and disseminate ideas and practices related to profound transformations in work and their effects on the sphere of personal and collective liberties and utopias.
Applications will be selected based on the excellence and scientific and/or methodological risk-taking, as well as the interdisciplinary and international dimension of the proposed project.
About the chair partners
The Institute of Human and Social Sciences (InSHS) is one of the ten institutes of the CNRS. It coordinates research on societies and human beings in collaboration with numerous academic and institutional partners. The development of the humanities and social sciences is manifested through the development of tools, methods, and theories that allow for their understanding and comprehension at various scales of time and space. Dedicated to fundamental research, InSHS is also highly attentive to shedding light on the challenges and contributions of this research for human societies.
The Laboratory of Economics and Sociology of Work (LEST) is a Joint Research Unit of the CNRS and Aix-Marseille University. Established in 1969 as a dedicated unit of the CNRS, its ambition has always been to produce high-level fundamental and engaged research on work and its evolutions, in connection with education and employment. As its name suggests, the laboratory was initially interdisciplinary. Today, researchers from seven disciplines come together to analyze work and its worlds as a reflection of contemporary social dynamics.