The 'Spatial Intelligence' Chair
The UPHF has decided to create a Spatial Intelligence research chair within the university. The principle of the chair is to constitute an initial core of excellence and autonomy that makes possible an expansion obtained through third-party funding of projects initiated by the chair. This core provides a coherent and stable framework, with dedicated staff and guaranteed funding.
.A high-level, compact and dynamic team
In its current operation, the chair includes a professor, researchers and teacher-researchers, doctoral students, animation, communication and secretarial resources.
The team of the Space Intelligence Chair is directed by prof. Jacques Lévy and includes: dr. Ana Póvoas, dr. Irene Sartoretti, Albane Godard, dr. Enka Blanchard, Marie-Aurélie Gaigne, Stéphane Gallardo, Sandra Olivier, Sébastien Piantoni, Justine Richelle, are associated: prof. Olivier Lazzarotti, dr. Guillaume Schmitt, dr. Patrick Poncet and Dorian Maillard.
What is spatial intelligence?
Spatial intelligence is an approach that analyzes space to explore contemporary societies, understand their logics and give inhabitants levers to transform them.
This involves a permanent back and forth between the most theoretical and the most empirical, between environments and actors, between observation and project.
Spatial intelligence contributes to the autonomy of the social sciences from all powers and all reductionisms.
Be here - and everywhere the knowledge challenge takes us
Today's science is global, and UPHF is one of the places in that World.
This consists of both developing projects that make sense for the local area and the region, launching work, proposing statements on all the themes and on all the fields where the Chair can claim a comparative advantage, by dialoguing with a multitude of researchers all over the planet.
It is a matter of contributing to making Valenciennes visible on the world map of knowledge, without any localist corporatism, but with very good reasons - which must be verified and reinforced every day: here a society invents its future, here high quality researchers work, here new hypotheses are born, here the passion for knowledge lives.
Multidimensional activities
Concretely, the chair, oriented towards research, develops the following activities:
- Research projects: development of interdisciplinary projects on multiple themes and at several scales. External funding is favored for large projects, in addition to self-funded short projects. Collaborations with UPHF researchers are actively sought.
- Training: a regular doctoral seminar is organized. It benefits from the contribution of external guests and is open to Criss and Sesam doctoral students and to interested master students.
- Citizen Science: in contrast to technocratic and paternalistic practices, the aim is to help citizens appropriate societal issues and deliberate among themselves. A series of meetings for students, teachers and researchers from across the UPHF as well as the general public will focus on the ethics of science, the cognitive challenges of public debates and the emerging devices of interactive democracy.