Centre national de la recherche scientifique

The Centre national de la recherche scientifique ("National Scientific Research Centre", CNRS) is the largest governmental research organization in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.

It involves 26,000 permanent staff (researchers, engineers, and administrative staff) and a further 4,000 temporary staff. Its budget for 2006 was 2.738 billion EUR.

Organisation

The CNRS currently has 6 divisions (French: départements scientifiques):
* Mathematics, physics, planetary sciences ("MPPU")
* Chemistry
* Life sciences
* Humanities and social sciences
* Environment and sustainable development ("EDD")
* Informatics and engineering
The last two are "transversal" divisions, meaning that the associated research groups are also associated with one of the four "core" divisions. The National Commission for Scientific Research (CN), which is in charge of the recruitment and evaluation of researchers, maintains a parallel division of scientific endeavor into 47 "sections". Research groups belong to one or more départements; the researchers themselves belong to one section.

For administrative purposes, CNRS includes 18 regional divisions (including four just for the region of Paris).

CNRS runs its research units (French: laboratoires informally and unité de recherche in administrative speech) either independently or in association with universities, other higher education institutions, or other institutions. Research groups are thus either solely run by CNRS (and then known as unités propres de recherche or UPR) or as mixed organizations (unités mixtes de recherche or UMR). Each research unit has a unique numeric code attached and is headed by a director (typically, a university professor or CNRS research director).

Currently CNRS researchers are active in 1,256 research groups, 85% of which are jointly-run and also include non-CNRS researchers. The prevalence of such "mixed" research groups is an unusual characteristic of the French system. This system may hinder those outside the French higher education system from properly attributing works, since each laboratory may have many different names (UMR code, full name, acronym, CNRS address, university address, department inside university address).

The headquarters of CNRS are located in the Campus Gérard Mégie, rue Michel-Ange, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. )

Employment

Researchers directly members of CNRS are classified in two categories, in order of seniority:
* Research associates (French: chargés de recherche) (2nd class, 1st class)
* Research directors (directeurs de recherche) (2nd class, 1st class, exceptional class).
Theoretically, research directors may head research groups, but this is not a general rule.

All permanent employees (both research engineers, technical/administrative staff) are recruited through annual nationwide competitive campaigns. The candidates selected have the status of civil servants and are part of the fonction publique.

International relations

CNRS is represented through administrative centers in Brussels, Beijing, Tokyo, Hanoi, Washington DC, Bonn, Moscow, Tunis, Johannesburg, and Santiago de Chile.

Brief history

The Centre was created on 19 October 1939 by decree of President Albert Lebrun. Since 1954, the Centre has annually awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals to French scientists and junior researchers. In 1966, the Centre underwent structural changes. The changes led to the creation of two specialized institutes: the National Astronomy and Geophysics Institute in 1967, which became the National Institute of Sciences of the Universe (INSU) in 1985, and the National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3) in 1971.

Recently, the performance of CNRS has been brought into question, with calls for wide-ranging reforms. In particular, the effectiveness of the recruitment, compensation, career management and evaluation procedures are under scrutiny. Recent governmental projects include the transformation of CNRS into an organ allocating support to research projects on an ad hoc basis, and the reallocation of the CNRS researchers to the universities. Another controversial plan, being advanced by the government of the current President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, involves breaking up CNRS into six separate institutes.

Leadership

Catherine Bréchignac was named President on 11 January 2006. She was previously Director General from 1997-2000.

Arnold Migus was named Director General on 18 January 2006, after the dismissal of 'reformist' Bernard Larrouturou.

List of Presidents
*René Pellat : 1989 - 1992
*Edouard Brezin : 1992 - 2000
*Gérard Mégie : 2000 - 2004
*Bernard Meunier : 2004 - 2006
*Catherine Bréchignac : 2006-

List of Directors General
*Jean Coulomb : 1957-1962
*Hubert Curien : 1969-1973
*Robert Chabbal : 1976-1980
*François Kourilsky : 1988 - 1994
*Guy Aubert : 1994 - 1997
*Catherine Bréchignac : 1997 - 2000
*Geneviève Berger : 2000 - 2003
*Bernard Larrouturou : 2003- 2006
*Arnold Migus : 2006-

CNRS laboratories
*Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR)
*Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire (CECAM)
* (INIST)
*Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA)
*Institut d'astrophysique de Paris (IAP)
*Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IBMC)
*Institut Jean Nicod (IJN)
*Laboratoire Parole et Langage (LPL)
*Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie (LPP)
*Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM)
* (LAAS)
* (LIP6)
* (LIMSI)
*Soleil
*Institut d'Histoire du Temps Présent (IHTP)

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu