A dialogue with researchers
Pilot Project proponents are invited by OPI to present their procedure to build interdisciplinary collaboration during the interdisciplinary workshops. At this time, the project leaders present their progress and any difficulties in the dialogue between disciplines. The members of the OPI also lead the Pilot Project Dissemination Meeting where project results are showcased. They also receive project activity reports, which are then analysed collectively during the workshop. This support enables OPI members to get feedback on the Pilot Projects and to assess the efficiency of the devices for the development of interdisciplinary collaborations within LabexMed.
To further develop the Pilot Project Scheme…
In 2014, the OPI team focused on changing the mechanism of the Pilot Projects towards more interdisciplinarity. It was thus proposed to modify the text of the call for Pilot Projects by setting as objectives “the definition of a common question and the constitution of a team to treat it“.
Two phases can be distinguished in the progress of the projects: a project phase of 18 months to meet the objectives and a support phase by the LabexMed administrative team to answer another call for proposals for projects that have passed the first phase successfully.
The modified call for Pilot Projects was launched in December 2014 for the fourth wave (2015-2016).
…and the LabexMed research areas.
In 2015, mid-term report evaluation and exchanges with the international jury highlighted the quality of LabexMed’s interdisciplinary approach. The jury invited LabexMed members to lead a reflection on the Mediterranean built on knowledge.
In addition, the recommendations of the experts convened by the Aix-Marseille University Strategic Orientation Committee, as well as those of the international experts who participated in the evaluation of the A*MIDEX Foundation, also pointed towards the internationalization of research and the privileged place to be given to the Mediterranean in this field.
Hence, a collective reflection on LabexMed’s lines of research was conducted in 2016 to define the thematic orientations to be favored, with a view to the post-2019 period. This was conducted in parallel with the definition of the new five-year contract of the research partner units.
The first proposal was to continue studying the Mediterranean as an observatory of societies and cultures. Moreover, the Mediterranean is becoming the center of the research issue: How to rethink the Mediterranean today?
The projects supported by LabexMed must now situate their contributions in terms of construction or deconstruction of the « Mediterranean object ».
This « Mediterranean object » can be studied through three lines of research:
- Socio-economic, political and legal processes.
- Cultural processes and Heritage dynamics. Circulation of knowledge and objects.
- Territorial dynamics and human-environment interactions.