Global News

The CNRS-UChicago International Research Center for Fundamental Scientific Discovery (IRC Discovery) is thrilled to announce the launch of the first CNRS International Research Laboratory hosted at the University of Chicago. The CNRS-UChicago International Research Lab for the Humanities (Humanities IRL) will serve as a hub for collaborative research projects co-conducted by scholars at UChicago and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. The Humanities IRL will host CNRS researchers for long- and short-term stays, enabling the integration of top scholars from France into the academic life of the University. In its initial phase, the IRL will focus on interdisciplinary and transnational research in linguistics, philosophy, philology, literature, and the arts.   

The Humanities IRL is one of approximately 80 CNRS IRLs in the world and the first IRL in the United States to be entirely dedicated to the Humanities. Its establishment affirms both institutions’ commitment to a long-standing partnership in this area. Laetitia Zecchini, a tenured Research Fellow at the CNRS and scholar of contemporary Indian poetry, will serve as Director of the lab and will be in residence at the University in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilization. Haun Saussy, University Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, will serve as Deputy Director.  

The thematic focus of the Humanities IRL was solidified during a workshop that took place as part of the launch of the IRC Discovery in June 2023. The themes of the IRL open up new avenues for collaboration between UChicago and the CNRS and build upon existing collaborative projects, such as the International Research Network on Postcolonial Print Cultures and a project on veridicality, rhetorical tropes, and epistemic vigilance in online communication, one of many projects funded through the CNRS-UChicago PhD Joint Program. As Deputy Director Haun Saussy notes, the CNRS’ “tradition of encouraging innovation makes it a particularly valuable partner for Chicago.... The really big problems of our time demand working together across boundaries of nation and specialization. The IRL is a chance to build ‘dream teams’ that challenge and improve us all.”

The Humanities IRL held its first official event on March 1st-2nd, with a conference sponsored by the Center for Hellenic Studies at UChicago. Titled “Phronesis: Reflections on Rationality and Practical Wisdom,” the conference focused on the Aristotelian concept of “phronesis,” or practical wisdom, and the ways foundational Hellenic notions and texts may apply to present-day public discourse. Opening remarks were made by Emmanuel Koubarakis, Consul General of Greece in Chicago; Anastasia Giannakidou, the Frank J. McLoraine Professor of Linguistics and the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies; and IRL Director Laetitia Zecchini.

In her comments, Zecchini noted the value of the long-standing partnership between the CNRS and UChicago and the ways in which the IRL builds upon their “shared tradition of research rooted in disciplines yet committed to interdisciplinarity [and] shared desire to encourage research projects that shed light on and respond to major contemporary societal and political issues.”