The Community, Interdisciplinary Reflections and Projects (CIRP) workshop intends to assemble free spirited students and researchers from broad scientific backgrounds to conceive creative research projects. This workshop provides the primary basis for collegiality and communication through dialogue and brainstorming on open questions in interdisciplinary research project. It is set in Domaine de Chalès (2h away from Paris) and is a joint activity between 1st year FIRE students and AIRE M2 students.

Aims of the workshop:

• To be able to focus on an important scientific question and to define the means to approach it from different disciplines
• To be able to zoom out (have a broader view) and zoom in (be precise and define the key experiments)
• To think and express your ideas more clearly.
• To gain confidence in your ideas.
• To be able to discuss, reject or accept ideas.
• To learn to take constructive scientific criticisms.
• To learn how to write a research proposal.
• To discuss scientific questions thoroughly.
• To learn to interact with people from different backgrounds.

Approximative dates: Early September

The Interdisciplinary Thursday seminars provide an overview on a wide scope of interdisciplinary research in life sciences and education. They promote discussions and scientific exchange among the fellows and senior scientists and develop an interdisciplinary scientific community.

Each session consists of 3 short talks (~15 minutes) by first year FIRE students introducing their research question and experimental/theoretical strategy followed by a discussion. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

The IT seminars take place in the Learning Center Extension (ground floor) at CRI building (8 rue Charles V 75004 Paris), from 18:00-19:30.

Approximative dates: Thursday evening every two weeks from October to April

This course is intended to train students to improve the critical reading of interdisciplinary research papers and to introduce them to the different aspects of the peer review process.

Students will be exercised on their ability to capture rapidly the content of a paper, including conceptual framework and technical aspects. Several aspects of the methodology to perform this task efficiently as well as retaining the content of papers will be discussed with the instructors. Emphasis will be put on analyzing methodological aspects and the writing of method sections, with illustrations and comparisons between different articles. Examples of seminal work involving methodological breakthrough will be presented and discussed. FInally, scientific misconduct leading to ethical issues will be exemplified and analyzed.

The course will also exercise and lead students through all critical steps of the peer review process, the tasks of Editors and board, the writing of appropriate reviews and will include some aspects of paper submission (ex: the writing of a cover letter). Examples will be given of crosstalk between reviewers and authors with the support of available transparent reviewing process provided by particular journals.

Teachers: Benoît Sorre and Saskia van der Vies

Approximative dates: March

You will have to give a scientific presentation? Don't panic. There are many things you can do to prepare a talk you will be proud of (or, at the very least, one you won’t be ashamed of), but most of them take time to master. So how about you start working on your presentation before you actually need to give one? This course will help you find the best way to communicate your science... to anyone and everyone.

Teacher: Eugenia Covernton

Approximative dates: October / November

You would like to do some science communication but you don’t know where to start? You always wanted to share your research to different audiences but you’re not sure how to proceed? This workshop is made for you! In 2 days we will be covering what kind of science communication exists and the basis of science communication, for any type of audience. You’ll learn about Twitter and most importantly, you’ll train to present your research to different types of audiences: general public but also journalists, funders, policy makers, etc.

Teacher: Elodie Chabrol

Approximative dates: October / November

Has your writing been infected by the Scientific Writing Style virus? Has it lost clarity, conciseness, interest, fluidity? Has it lost readers, become so abstract or unclear that even experts struggle with it? Come and learn how to see the signs of infection. Diagnose what makes your writing ineffective. And become a better writer, one that readers find imminently readable, one that readers enjoy and learn from.

Teacher: Justin Lebrun

Approximative dates: One session in November, another one in April

The Thematic workshops give FIRE and AIRE M2 students an opportunity to conceive and organize a workshop to showcase their research and interests in an interdisciplinary and open setting. The workshops aim to create a setting for discussion and exchange amongst PhD students, Masters students, and the scientific community at large.

FIRE PhD students and AIRE M2 students work together to create the thematic workshops week at the CRI. The students decide on themes and then have the opportunity to organize each component of the thematic workshop, including format, guest speakers, scheduling, advertising, etc. A budget is available for invitations of external scientists to participate in the workshop and interact with the students.

Approximative dates: February

The goal of this training is to support young researchers in the active development of their career plan and prepare them for the fundamentals of job search, in particular in academia in France. Special attention will be paid to the postdoctorate. The workshop will present the keys to selecting and successfully carrying out a postdoc and help to answer common questions of PhDs interested in applying for postdocs.

• Being aware of the importance of career planning and how to devise a career plan
• Getting familiar with the French academic job market, requirements for entry positions and useful resources
• Integrate the postdoc into your career plan and prepare differents steps of your postdoctoral stay abroad (before, during, after)

Teacher: Melike Riollet, ABG Intelli'agence

Approximative dates: May

The FIRE doctoral school is supporting the association PhDooc for its MOOC "Doctorat et Poursuite de Carrière - PhD and Career Development". Our students who registered and fulfil the requirements will receive an official certificate of completion.

More information Enroll here.

This workshops offers students a space to discuss the challenging and stressful aspects of the PhD and to provide support to their peers who are also facing similar issues. Students will gain more control over their negative emotions and improve their resilience in the PhD program.

Doing a PhD is a stimulating, but also a challenging and stressful experience, as pointed out in the growing body of literature on doctoral education. Many stress factors affect PhD students: elaboration of a research project, integration in a research lab and into various networks, relationships with the supervisor(s) and with peers, growing competition, quest for funding, the doctoral writing, solitude, lack of self-confidence, precariousness, uncertain future, etc.

It is perfectly normal to face obstacles during the “doctoral journey” and there seems to be an increasing awareness among academics of the need for a specific support during this long adventure. Various institutional initiatives flourish around the world and intervention programmes at schools and universities have shown their efficiency. The SPARK Resilience program, which aims to help people gain more control over their negative emotions and improve their resilience skills, has been adapted to address the specific needs of doctoral students in this series of workshops.

During the small group discussion sessions students will collaborate to improve engagement at work, self-motivation, personal growth and well-being; as well as develop techniques to reduce anxiety, unpleasant/negative emotions and depression.

Teacher: Pascale Haag

Approximative dates: November / December

“Chance favours the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur, Lecture, University of Lille (7 December 1854)

What is the philosophy of science? How does it relate to research, in theory and practice? What is it good for? Why should I care? Will my research profit from knowing about it, or is it (as Richard Feynman quipped) as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds?

This course will make you a better researcher by making you a better philosopher!

Join us for five half-days of collective exploration into the nature of reality, perspectival knowledge, and the process of open inquiry.

Teacher: Johannes Jaeger

Approximative dates: January

What are the specificities of the scientific approach to investigate the world? And of the artistic ones? How both differ or, on the contrary, look alike? More important, how both approaches could combine? That is, how the practice of the arts can enrich scientific research?

Teacher: Aurélien Peilloux

To be confirmed

The goal of this course is to equip the students with relevant and actionable tool to increase their efficiency in the context of research. We will cover a wide range of topics, including priority setting, organisation, how to conduct an efficient state of the art, how to develop and stick to habits, how to overcome the mid-PhD depression or how to enhance its research capabilities with networking and collaborations.

Teacher: Aurélien Baelde

Approximative dates: December / January

Each morning you’ll receive an e-mail with an assortment of written content and audio recordings. Each lesson takes ten minutes to complete and includes a story with dialogues, questions, ‘mini-lessons’ and revisions.

After clicking the ‘send’ button, you’ll receive your e-mail corrections with your score of the day, explanations on why you got each question right or wrong, transcripts of the audio recordings, the vocabulary you wanted to learn more about, etc.

The next lessons will be customized according to your previous answers, your expectations and your needs.

Each morning you’ll receive an e-mail with an assortment of written content and audio recordings. Each lesson takes ten minutes to complete and includes a story with dialogues, questions, ‘mini-lessons’ and revisions.

After clicking the ‘send’ button, you’ll receive your e-mail corrections with your score of the day, explanations on why you got each question right or wrong, transcripts of the audio recordings, the vocabulary you wanted to learn more about, etc.

The next lessons will be customized according to your previous answers, your expectations and your needs.