IMéRA (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Research) is an Aix-Marseille University (AMU) Foundation. From its very start it was a member of RFIEA (French Advanced Study Institutes Network); it is also part of EURIAS and of the European Network of University-Based Institutes.

IMéRA has 5- or 10-month residency schemes for scientists and artists; it also accommodates a few multi-disciplinary teams with collective projects for short duration stays. Residents work on their own research projects in connection with Aix-Marseille teams and laboratories. They contribute to the Institute’s own intellectual life based on cross-fertilisation in Science and Arts.

Residents are from outside Aix-Marseille University, and most are foreigners. They can be junior (e.g. post-doc) researchers or senior researchers/academics. Some are scientists from all domains (Universe, Life, Social Sciences, etc.). Others are artists carrying out their creation work in close connection with the world of scientific research.

IMéRA’s specific goal is to experiment cross-fertilisation between various disciplines because we consider that insufficient use is still made of such interactions, which are key conveyors of scientific innovation. We want to share any innovation strategies that might be developed within the Institute at the crossroads of various disciplines, together with all the scientific communitiesworking in its environment.

IMéRA will therefore give particularly favourable attention to applications from researchers who can, through their work, develop interactions within social science, within science in general, between social science and formal/experimental science, and between art and science.

We also strive to foster relationships between researchers from all sides of the Mediterranean Sea.