--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------of Bordeaux Research and Higher Education Center (PRES) and its Three questions for… Alain Boudou, President of the University of Bordeaux PRES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why are you supporting this site agreement? CNRS has always been an invaluable partner. The most recent examples include the Idex, of course, as well as the Labex and other operations stemming from the Investments for the Future program. We meet regularly with CNRS to monitor these projects. The idea was to strengthen existing links between Aquitaine universities and CNRS to make collaboration even more productive between these complementary organizations. As the representative of PRES, I fully support this innovative and meaningful initiative. What are the key points of this new partnership? It reflects our will to pool our financial, human, administrative and technical resources to achieve common objectives. In this era of tight budgets, 10 we can no longer spread ourselves too thinly. To carry out our ambitious research policy, we need shared governance, a novel concept that the New University of Bordeaux has fully adopted. What are the next steps? We will work together to roll out a strategy for selecting research themes and promoting European projects. More specifically, we plan to set up a joint structure focusing on international activities, which have become essential for our visibility and for our future. Carefully-managed agreements The agreements are drafted in collaboration with regional stakeholders, using a standard framework adapted to each site’s expertise, identity, and priorities. They have a dual objective: outlining the scientific policy shared by CNRS and its local partners, and providing a regulatory framework for the various research structures involved, notably joint research units (UMRs). Each agreement includes a strategic section that defines the partnership between CNRS and the various EESRs, identifies the fields covered – usually interdisciplinary – and details the scientific, technical, and administrative aspects of its implementation. The document also highlights the key challenges and structuring initiatives of the agreement. It encompasses human and financial resources, and anticipates intellectual property issues. Special emphasis is placed on European cooperation prospects and on the international scope of the project. Appendices cover regulatory issues, identify the organizations involved in the partnership, and list the UMRs and employees concerned. Aquitaine’s pioneering effort The initial deadline for finalizing the site agreements was delayed by France’s Investments for the Future program. The new schedule was agreed in consultation with the French Ministry for Higher Education and Research, which is also involved in a site agreement process. Implementing a regional strategy takes time, especially if it involves several institutions and is at the interface of multiple disciplines. The first five-year site agreement was signed in Bordeaux on December 4, 2012 between CNRS, the University of Pau, the University EESRs – the universities of Bordeaux I, II, III and IV, the Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux and Sciences Po Bordeaux. Aquitaine is a full-fledged pilot site for the program. It intends to consolidate its areas of excellence and promote the emergence of new interdisciplinary fields such as biology and health care; chemistry; materials and engineering; optics and lasers; digital science and technology; archeological science; the environment, ecotechnology and the evolution of ecosystems; nuclear physics; particle physics and astroparticles; and social sciences. All these scientific priorities are evidence of the breadth of research in Aquitaine and of the region’s international influence. The provisional schedule includes six new agreements in 2013: with Clermont-Ferrand, Toulouse and Grenoble to start with, followed by Rennes, Nantes and Normandy. A year at CNRS 2012
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