French National Centre for Scientific Research Annual report

Transcription

1 French National Centre for Scientific Research Annual report Interdisciplinary programmes and actions Materials Physics and Chemistry in Life Sciences Cognitive Sciences Technologies for the Environment and Energy (Ecotech) Environment, Life and Society Pushing technologies to their limits (Ultimatech) Cities (Pir-Villes)

2 In 1996, the CNRS continued to support existing interdisciplinary programmes while working on the definition of future projects. Interdisciplinary programmes and actions Gérard Beck In 1996, the CNRS pursued its policy in the field of materials science; it is now managing a transition between the former PIRMAT (Interdisciplinary research programme on materials) and the future programme. The Materials Delegate and the Interdepartmental materials committee were in charge of ensuring the participation of the different scientific departments in this process. Interdepartmental Programme on Materials Most of the eleven programmes based on partnerships and set up by PIRMAT were completed in Colloquia were organized to assess the programmes scientific results as well as their impact on the participants. Six of these programmes will be continued in 1997 to allow the completion of several theses. A programme on lamination initiated by the Materials Delegate, with two-thirds of the cost, except staff, co-financed by Péchiney and Usinor- Sacilor, was well under way early Six new actions for 1997 were submitted for approval to the interdepartmental committee. Strategic concerns led to the definition of nine separate fields of enquiry. A Cahier de synthèse (Synthetic evaluation report) was prepared for each field. Based on a strategic analysis, these reports draw up lists of recommendations in accordance with the CNRS s scientific policy. These synthetic reports are submitted to the Comité national de la Recherche Scientifique (National Committee for Scientific Research) during the Spring 1997 session. In parallel, with the help of the association ECRIN, these reports will also be sent to the CNRS s socioeconomic partners, who will be asked to comment. The strategic analysis will be presented to the research teams during the Assises des Matériaux meeting at the end of 1997.

3 Sylvain Blanquet The Physics and Chemistry in Life Sciences Programme was created in November In setting up this programme, the aim of the CNRS Programming and Strategy Department was to bring together young chemists and physicists on the study of biological materials and to encourage interaction between various scientific communities. Physics and Chemistry in Life Sciences Programme In 1996, the Programme examined the possibility of implementing a specific interdisciplinary project associating Life Sciences with Physics and Chemistry. The role of such an action would be to coordinate several CNRS Divisions in the framework of the National Coordination Programme in the Life Sciences (ACC) and in accordance with the priority research themes defined by the Interministerial Committee for scientific and technological research (CIRST). Before launching this action, it was necessary to carry out an analysis of the situation of research in the fields which combine physics, chemistry and biology. To this end, three work groups involving the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Committee for Scientific Research) and bringing together specialists both in basic and applied research were entrusted with the task of drawing up a report on the situation of French research in those fields and evaluating its impact. From April to October 1996, the work groups met several times and discussed three main scientific areas: biomolecular physics and chemistry, cells and condensed biomolecular systems, drugs and biotechnologies. A founding colloquium on Physics and Chemistry in Life Sciences was held in Strasbourg on December 16 and 17 to define the fields of enquiry of this interdisciplinary programme, as well as its research orientations and priorities. 400 researchers attended the meeting. Special attention was devoted to the issue of training researchers to work at the interface between physics, chemistry and biology. Last but not least, the continuing-education programme IMABIO was pursued with three seminars organized in Jean-Gabriel Ganascia Created in April 1995, the Groupement d intérêt scientifique (GIS - scientific research group) on cognitive sciences links up two separate programmes launched by the CNRS in 1990 and by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Three new partners, the CEA, INRIA, and INRETS subsequently joined the programme. Cognitive Sciences GIS The aim of the Cognitive Sciences GIS is to maintain the international excellence of French research teams working in this interdisciplinary field, to coordinate relationships between various teams and laboratories and to study the ways and means of transferring the findings of cognitive sciences to the socioeconomic sector. The Group thus focuses on five main activities: planning future research, selecting and financing projects, coordinating and federating researchers working in the field, publicizing findings, and evaluating research grants. Future planning activities consist in organizing meetings to discuss general questions, identify new themes, suggest new actions, reflect on their possible socioeconomic impact, and consider possible partnerships with the relevant institutions. In 1996, several meetings were devoted to the following themes: editorial policy, training, the benefits of functional brain imaging, the mutual benefits of natural and artificial cognition, and cognition and communication. Three invitations to tender were organized for the selection of interdisciplinary research projects to be financed by the GIS. The three themes were, respectively: Cognition and communication, Mutual benefits of natural and artificial cognition, and The use of brain imaging technology in cognitive sciences. 117 projects, involving 404 research teams, were submitted; for the first two themes, 25 projects (involving 96 teams) were selected; the third group of projects will be financed in 1997.

4 The Cognitive Science GIS acted as a coordinator by continuing to support regional cognitive sciences networks. Its training activities centred on the organization of the 1996 Jean-Nicod conferences on cognitive philosophy. The Cognitive Sciences GIS publishes a newsletter and manages a WWW server. It is also working on a project to link up the various information centres of existing networks. In addition to internal communications efforts, the GIS also aims at developing wideranging public relations, especially with the industrial world. To this end, a colloquium on the theme Security and cognition is now being organized. Finally, 20 research grants were allocated by the State Secretariat for Research, following recommendations made by a scientific committee set up by the GIS. Benjamin Dessus Ecotech, the Interdisciplinary Research Programme on technologies for the environment and energy, was created as part of the CNRS s strategic orientation plan for the priority theme entitled The Environment. Projects concern all socioeconomic sectors and belong to four main research areas: industry, energy systems, the living environment and transport. Ecotech Despite a difficult financial context in 1996, relationships with Ecotech s main partners were preserved and research programmes, already under way, aiming to reduce industrial and mining pollution and develop non-polluting techniques and products have been maintained. Several projects deal with the treatment of both household and industrial waste and the cleaning of polluted soil. New research has been launched on non-food agriculture and its chemical and energy applications in the framework of the GIS AGRICE. Research on the use of renewable energy sources has also been developed, with the following actions: the study on the possibility of generating electricity from wood, the very active research programme on the conversion of solar energy into electricity, and the analysis of first water flows carried out by the programme on deep geothermal energy. In the field of transport, researchers have been working on improving the quality of fuels and developing catalytic converters and clean engines in order to curb pollution due to road transport. A survey conducted by Ecotech has demonstrated the importance of CNRS research work on transport; the CNRS is thus a major partner in the new national programme PREDIT. All the thematic research projects involve the humanities and social sciences, whose role is to evaluate the future impact of technological research on society. Furthermore, Ecotech takes an active part in the forecast reports of CLIP, a prospective study group founded by Ecotech and numbering thirteen institutional and industrial partners. Some 400 CNRS and university researchers from all over France participate in the sixty research projects initiated by Ecotech. Ecotech also supports the laboratory training of one hundred young scientists, in the framework of the research grant policy of the Agency for the Environment and Energy Control (ADEME).

5 Alain Pavé The aim of this programme is to analyse to what extent environmental change is directly or indirectly affected by human action on one hand and natural processes on the other. The relationships and interactions between spontaneous natural processes and human impact must be identified, assessed, and predicted. The programme was launched in 1994 and follows up on the former Environment programme. Six main research topics have been defined: ecological systems and human impact; dynamics of biodiversity and the environment; environment, society and long-term development; transport, transformation and ecotoxicology of contaminants; environment and health; methods, models and theories for the environment. Environment, Life and Society One of the Programme s main objectives has been to provide a framework for regional environmental research: in Brittany, with the creation of the Armorican Environmental Research Centre (CAREN); in the Rhône-Alpes region, by participating in a regional environmental research programme; in Alsace, by supporting regional research actions; in the south of France, organizing activities in the Mediterranean research branch; and in French Guyana, where the Programme has encouraged and organized research projects (on natural systems, especially forests, and on human-induced pollution in intertropical zones) and supported the Silvolab Research group. Subantarctic ecosystems are also an important focus of research. One of the Programme s main actions has consisted in setting up and supporting interdisciplinary research groups. International cooperation efforts include collaborations with Brazil and Vietnam. Joint research projects are being conducted in the Amazon basin in Brazil, and common research aims are now being defined with Vietnamese counterparts. The Programme supported a limited number of actions in 1996 and participated in contractual research activities according to the means at its disposal. The high points of the year were: the conference on New trends in environmental modelling, attended by 700 participants and during which 70 papers and 90 posters were presented; the international expert report commissioned by a Brazilian state and entrusted to the Programme by the Director General of the CNRS (State of Amapà, report on environmental and sustainable development issues); the organization of a debate on the future orientations of environmental research, based on the suggestions of the Programme committee and the scientific committees; participation in the CNRS s overall programming effort by suggesting that basic and applied research on environment and on development be more closely linked with the aim of sustainable development. The validity of the research goals pursued by existing programmes were confirmed and their overall coherence emphasized. Two new projects were proposed in this context: Sciences for natural systems engineering and Ecoregional dynamics, nature and society. Huguette Launois The interdisciplinary research programme Ultimatech brings together the fields of nanotechnology, microtechnology, detectors, optics and lasers; its goals are: developing special instruments, pushing techniques and technologies to their limits; promoting interaction between these fields and others. Ultimatech Some 500 researchers are working on projects planned over several years or in the framework of invitations to tender. Projects launched in 1994 and 1995 were continued in 1996 and are giving interesting results: Nanotechnology, one of the Programme s major fields of enquiry, deals with the elaboration, observation and specific functional application of very small objects. These innovating techniques have a revolutionary impact on physics, chemistry or biology. For instance, a method for making long silicon atomic lines on SiC surface has been discovered; carbon nanotubes have been applied to heterogeneous catalysis and have enabled scientists to reach unprecedented selectivity in the catalysis of the hydrogenation of an aldehyde. Original research has been conducted on the use of ultramicroelectrodes made of platinum-coated carbon fiber to register the response of isolated living cells subjected to oxydative stress caused by membrane lesion.

6 In the field of microtechnology, a microcalorimeter was developed which is 10 to 100 times more sensitive than an ordinary calorimeter and can be used for mass samples 1000 times smaller than usual. In the field of optics and lasers, highlights are: the first observation of two-beam interferences ( Young s slits ) from a spatially coherent X-ray laser; the first experimental demonstration of frequency modulation and time diffractions of de Broglie waves associated with laser-cooled atoms; the development of singlecrystal optical fibers with laser properties and a high degree of non linear optical susceptibility, leading to the observation of harmonic self-generation; the elaboration of a laser chain with unprecedented spectral stability (10-12 ) for frequency and time metrology. Finally, two important projects were completed this year: the Photobiology by UV picosecond laser chain supplied by semi-conductor lasers project, which has already enabled the measurement of spectrotemporal fluorescence on brain tissues, and the Guided uni- and multimodal optics for astronomical synthetic aperture project which has attracted the attention of astronomers worldwide. Gabriel Dupuy In 1996, the Interdisciplinary Research Programme on cities concentrated on monitoring and completing existing projects, publicizing results, and selecting new themes for future programming. PIR-Villes Several programmes were terminated: Cities and health, Urban Government I and Disfavored neighbourhoods. Others were extended, such as: Renewal of urban planning, Images and Shapes of the City, Large-scale architecture, The city and the senses, Security, Mobility, Primequal (clean air), and The words of the city. The new themes are: Time-scales, Urban government II, New urban territories, New technologies for the city. While maintaining ties with its usual partners and founding fathers, PIR-Villes has developed contacts with the Ministry of the Environment, the Interior Ministry, the Paris public transport company RATP, PREDIT, the Plan Construction et Architecture, ORSTOM, and the INRS. Research findings of teams funded by PIR-Villes have been published in a special Cities issue of the Courrier du CNRS edited in French, English, and Spanish for the Istanbul City summit, as well as in the Cahiers du Pir-Villes and in other, non-cnrs, publications. Research findings were publicized through several events: seminars were organized for the staff of the Interministerial Delegation for Cities, DATAR, and for local elected officials; other actions were aimed at reaching a varied public of professionals, teachers, students, associations, etc: two CNRS special seminars were devoted to the themes: Scientific information on cities and Forms of spatial proximity. In addition, an experimental electronic magazine presenting a selection of scientific articles (base Ville+) was recently created on the temporary Internet site Cybergeo. While continuing to work on European projects such as the COST-Civitas action, PIR- Villes limited its activities this year to several precise objectives: completion of the Franco- Quebec programme with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Franco-Japanese seminar on urban real estate issues, the Research on South-African cities conference, the seminar Cities of the South, cities of the North. PIR-villes continues to encourage doctoral students working on urban themes. Twenty doctoral students were selected this year to receive grants funded by the Ministry of Education and Research and other partners.