The CRI Collaboratory is centred around INSERM and Université de Paris Systems Engineering and Evolution Dynamics unit (U1284) that hosts research fellows, selected by an international Scientific Advisory Committee with high-risk, open, collaborative research projects that tackle global health and education SDG challenges, focusing on the following broad topics in order to bridge fundamental research with societal impact:
The Research Collaboratory is a place where researchers can blend, combine and cross-fertilise ideas to come up with research questions that don’t fit within a single discipline. This we do in an open-science framework, advocating for open publication, open data and open methods while encouraging researchers to involve the general public in all aspects of the scientific process through participatory science and dry/wet open labs. Beyond the research itself, we also investigate and evaluate the research process in an effort to understand scientific methodologies and how to improve upon them. The collaboratory hosts different associations that share our spirit as Just One Giant Lab (JoGL), iGEM Foundation headquarters and runs a start-up in residence program (Gourmey).
At the crossroad of Science and Design, Premiers Cris brings together an interdisciplinary community in a collaborative research process. This approach, combining scientific methodology and creativity, values the experience of early childhood stakeholders and aims at rethinkhing research practices. Premiers Cris strive, in this way, for the improvement of daycare services for young children and the reduction of developmental inequalities from early childhood onward.
The labs of the CRI’s innovation hub have been designing, prototyping and producing tools for research projects and innovative pedagogy while also functioning as advisors in these areas. In short, they promote learning that combines design and technology.
GameLab Designs innovative games for science and education
HealthLab Brings interdisciplinarity into healthcare
MakerLab Develops open tools for research, education and learning projects
Premiers Cris Focuses on infant development, bringing together future parents, childcare workers and scientists
VR Frontiers Lab Explores Virtual Reality applications in education and interdisciplinary science
WetLab Synthetic biology experimental lab
In an effort to work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the SDG School is a 4-week programme that helps students develop the individual and collective skills necessary to tackle the major challenges of our time. The programme results from the fusion of two complementary programmes, the S.T.E.A.M. School by Maker’s Asylum and our own CRI Labs Summer School, and is jointly run by the two organisations.
The SDG School focuses on efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Goals are a blueprint for building a better, more sustainable future for the entire planet, specifically in the areas of education, healthcare, equality, energy, production, consumption, climate change and strategic partnerships.
During this intensive 4-week programme, students gain familiarity with real-world development issues around the globe as well as with the new scientific methodologies and technologies that can solve them. Students are trained to think like social entrepreneurs and design impactful, meaningful projects. They can make games or devices or even create an art installation dealing with one of the SDGs. Experts are there to support and mentor students in game making, medicine, environmental science, digital fabrication, frugal innovation and much more!
As part of its Skills Investment Plan, the French Ministry of Labour has made a call for projects that promote educational and professional integration. The goal of the plan is to identify and test out new ideas that can accelerate the inclusion of society’s most vulnerable, helping them earn qualifications or further their professional development so they can reconnect with the job market.
The RTR project - Make your dreams come true - was selected by the French Ministry of Labour and will be piloted at three sites in France: Lille-Roubaix, Paris-Montreuil and Marseille. It’s an action-research project that experiments with new approaches to education and training that support NEETs in their effort to enhance their skills and find employment.
Behind the project is a consortium of partners: the Catholic Institute of Lille (ICL), the Collective and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (LICA), the Chance social business, the Synergie Family and the CRI.
With the RTR project, we want to offer a new vision of how the labour market should work, namely that it should be the market that seeks out individuals while individuals should be empowered to choose employment based on their identity, talents, resources, motivations and dreams. The project aims to connect the labour market with NEETs in such a way that both sides can enjoy a sustainable and fulfilling partnership.
