The CNRS, the CRM, and Tools for Franco-Quebec Cooperation in Mathematics

The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in France and the Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) in Quebec have been associated since 2011 to co-direct an International Research Laboratory (IRL) in mathematics: the CRM-CNRS.

On October 20 and 21, a delegation from the CNRS composed of Christophe BESSE, director of the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Their Interactions (Insmi, CNRS-Mathematics), Frédéric HÉRAU, deputy scientific director of Insmi in charge of Europe and international affairs, Andrea DESSEN, director of the CNRS office in Canada, and Suzie BRONNER, scientific cooperation officer at the same office, visited its most attractive international laboratory in mathematics, the CRM-CNRS.

This visit was an opportunity to exchange ideas with the vice-president for research – scientific direction “Nature and technologies” of the Quebec Research Fund (FRQ), vice-rectors from partner universities of the CRM, directors of CRM laboratories, students, researchers from France based in Quebec, as well as with a French diplomatic representation in Quebec. An afternoon was dedicated to scientific presentations by researchers from France assigned by the CNRS to the CRM-CNRS.

This visit is also an opportunity to present the CNRS and the tools available to enhance cooperation in mathematics between France and Quebec.

The National Center for Scientific Research

As France has just entered into war, it created on October 19, 1939, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) to (among other things) “provoke, coordinate, and encourage research in pure or applied science.” It is the heir to a long mobilization for increased support for research, notably led by physicist Jean Perrin¹ and Jean Zay.

A center covering all sciences

The CNRS is a French public research organization placed under the direct supervision of the ministry responsible for research. It is directed by a scientist appointed by the President of the Republic after favorable advice from parliament.

It is organized into ten institutes that cover all sciences, including human and social sciences, allowing it to fulfill the mission entrusted by the state: “Identify, conduct, or have conducted all research presenting an interest for science as well as for the technological, social, and cultural progress of the country.”

It hosts thirty-four thousand seven hundred people, one third coming from a country other than France, including nearly thirty thousand scientists (among whom eleven thousand are state-employed researchers), the CNRS co-directs (generally with universities) one thousand one hundred laboratories in France and abroad. Thus, one hundred twenty thousand people are hosted in a laboratory co-directed by the CNRS.

International cooperation policy

Two-thirds of the fifty-five thousand annual publications produced in a laboratory co-directed by the CNRS are done in collaboration with a foreign institution. Establishing an international strategy is therefore an important tool implemented by the CNRS to achieve its objective.

Objectives

The objective of the international strategy of the CNRS is to partner with the best teams and attract the best talents to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Training the next generation; improving the ability to obtain external funding, particularly from the European Union; and defining common structures are important tools for achieving this objective.

The tools

The CNRS has a multitude of tools, which would likely be tedious to describe here, to implement its international strategy. Let us therefore mention the main cooperation tools using English terminology.

Explore and consolidate. Two tools allow for exploring new areas or partnerships or strengthening existing collaborations:

• The International Research Projects (IRP), for projects between two people or two teams lasting two to five years. The CNRS supports two hundred forty such projects (eighteen in Canada);
• The International Research Networks (IRN), for projects linking several already structured teams for a duration of five years, the CNRS supports one hundred thirty such projects (seven in Canada).

Structure. The tool for structuring international cooperation at the CNRS is the International Research Laboratory (IRL) of which the CRM-CNRS is an example. Created for a renewable duration of five years, this common laboratory structure supports high-level research with the mobility tools of the CNRS. The CNRS co-directs eighty such international research laboratories.

Integrate. One tool allows for integrating cooperation at a level higher than that of the laboratory by creating institutional partnerships: International Research Center (IRC). The CNRS is a partner of 6 such centers. One of these six centers is in Canada: the IRC “Innovations for a Sustainable Planet” in partnership with the University of Sherbrooke focuses on responsible innovation, transitions and biodiversity; micro-nanotechnologies; sustainable chemistry and material circularity; low-carbon responsible materials for sustainable construction; quantum sciences and technologies.

Train. Finally, to train the next generation, a joint thesis program tool allows for establishing agreements of three years based on a thesis in France and a thesis in the partner country for a duration of three years. The program supports one hundred such programs, including three with Canada (University of Sherbrooke, University of Toronto, and University of British Columbia).

A continental organization

To coordinate its international actions, the CNRS has representation offices in Brussels, Pretoria, Nairobi, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi, Ottawa, Washington DC, and Sao Paulo.

Mathematics at the CNRS

Tools for an expanded mission

The national mission

While the ten disciplinary institutes of the CNRS are responsible for piloting the research strategy of the organization within their disciplinary scope and coordinating the activities and projects of the laboratories attached to them, the institute in charge of mathematics has been entrusted by the state with the most ambitious national mission of animation and coordination in the field of mathematics. This justifies the name of the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Their Interactions (Insmi) of this institute, which addresses the entire mathematical community in France and not only the researchers in mathematics of the CNRS.

A complete territorial coverage

To carry out its mission, the Insmi covers the hexagonal territory with forty-four research laboratories (called mixed research units), in partnership with universities or engineering schools. These laboratories host three thousand seven hundred state-employed mathematicians, most of whom are academics, and four hundred thirty researchers from the CNRS. Additionally, there are one thousand five hundred doctoral students and three hundred fifty doctoral candidates. To allow mathematicians not belonging to a mixed research unit to benefit from the tools of the CNRS, the Insmi has also created a network of research federations.

In summary, every mathematician in France can benefit from the tools of the CNRS and, in particular, from opportunities for international collaboration.

Nationally labeled tools

Seven units have missions to support research (conference centers, digital tools, computing centers, access and dissemination of mathematical information…). Here, we will only describe three of them, which are more likely to interest readers from Canada.

The two best-known are conference centers. The Henri Poincaré Institute (IHP, a partnership of the CNRS and Sorbonne University), located in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, organizes thematic semesters that are quite similar to the thematic programs of the CRM. It also houses the “Poincaré House,” a museum open to all audiences. The International Center for Mathematical Encounters (Cirm, a partnership of the CNRS with Aix-Marseille University) organizes conferences, generally lasting one week, providing accommodation and meals. Thus, six thousand people were welcomed at Cirm in 2024.

The third unit I wish to mention is MathDoc, a documentary coordination unit (a partnership of the CNRS and the University of Grenoble Alpes) that has notably created an open-access publishing platform for scientific publications (with no publication fees or reading fees), the Mersenne Center. Readers are cordially invited to submit their best works to one of the sixteen mathematical journals published by the Mersenne Center.

International cooperation policy

International laboratories on all continents

The CNRS co-manages thirteen international laboratories:

• Three in Europe: United Kingdom (London), Austria (Vienna), and Italy;
• Three in Asia: India (Bangalore), Vietnam (Hanoi), and Japan (Tokyo), to which we can add a laboratory in India (Chennai) managed secondarily by the Insmi and primarily by CNRS Computer Science;
• One in Oceania: Australia (Canberra);
• Three in South America: Chile (Santiago), Uruguay (Montevideo), and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro);
• Three in North America: Mexico (Mexico City), Canada (Vancouver and Montreal).

The laboratory in Chile (the Center for Mathematical Modeling) was created in 2000. It is the oldest international laboratory co-managed by the CNRS, showing both a strong historical link between the Chilean and French mathematical communities and a strong commitment of mathematicians to international collaboration. The most recent laboratory is the France Australia Mathematical Sciences and Interactions International Research Lab created in 2025.

The two international laboratories in Canada

The international laboratory on the East Coast of Canada is the CRM-CNRS. Created in 2011, it partners with all the partners of the CRM and thus covers all of Quebec and Ottawa. In other words, the opportunities described below are aimed at mathematicians from all universities affiliated with the CRM.

The international laboratory on the West Coast of Canada is the CNRS-PIMS. Established in 2007, it brings together about ten universities spread across Western Canada (as well as the University of Washington in Seattle).

Collaboration Opportunities

The following sections present some opportunities for cooperation between France and Quebec (to which Ottawa can be added for programs not dependent on the FRQ). They do not cover all possibilities, and readers are invited to follow updates on offers on the CanadaFrance website and to subscribe to the newsletter of the site.

Going to France

The CNRS “red posts”

The so-called “red post” system offers mathematicians employed in an institution outside France stays of two to three months (not divisible into several shorter stays) in mathematics laboratories in France to develop a research project with a member of the host laboratory in France. Financial support includes travel expenses, visa if necessary, accommodation, and meals. Applications can be directly submitted to the director of the CRM-CNRS, who forwards them to the CNRS.

The call is recurring with, in general, the following schedule:

• Submission to the CRM-CNRS management: end of September;
• Stay between February 1 and November 30 of the following year.

The FRQ support program

The Center for Mathematical Research benefits from a grant from the Quebec Research Fund to support exchanges between Quebec and France. This program allows for:

• Funding, for mathematicians whose universities are partners of the CRM, for medium-term stays (up to six months in laboratories in France);
• Funding, for mathematicians whose universities are partners of the CRM (including postdoctoral researchers) and their second and third cycle students, for participation in scientific events in France;

This call is recurring with the following deadlines each year:

• January 10;
• April 1;
• July 1;
• October 1.

Other possibilities

• A recent agreement between the CRM, the CNRS, the Jacques Hadamard Mathematics Foundation, and the Paris Mathematical Sciences Foundation (the latter two foundations grouping most of the mathematics laboratories in Paris and its suburbs) allows for stays in France;
• An agreement between the CRM and the International Center for Mathematical Encounters (Cirm, in Luminy-Marseille) allows for working in small groups through hosting at the CRM and Cirm.

Inviting Scientists from France

Assignments by the CNRS to the CRM-CNRS

Each year, the CNRS assigns mathematicians from France to the CRM-CNRS for a duration of at least six months. The goal is to strengthen collaborations, and the application, which must be submitted in September of the year preceding the assignment, must describe a scientific project outlining such collaboration. The selected candidates are chosen by the CNRS following a rigorous process of all applications in the fourteen international laboratories of the CNRS in mathematics. Accompanying measures for this assignment ensure a smooth stay, and it is possible to come with family.

The FRQ support program

The grant from the FRQ to the CRM in support of exchanges between Quebec and France also allows for inviting mathematicians from France to Quebec. Thus, thematic programs receive dedicated funding for such invitations. The program can also provide individual support. Again, the call is recurring with the following deadlines each year:

• January 10;
• April 1;
• July 1;
• October 1.

The CRM Simons Program

This program, funded through the generous support of the Simons Foundation, offers stays of 1 to 6 months for collaboration at one of the CRM partner universities. It targets two categories of researchers in mathematics and related fields: junior researchers (who obtained their doctorate less than 10 years ago) and senior researchers. Again, the call is recurring with the following deadlines each year:

• January 10;
• April 1;
• July 1;
• October 1.