By providing freedom of research to a community of outstanding researchers, the Collegium de Lyon’s primary aim is to build a high-level scientific community centered on the humanities and social sciences but also open to cross-cutting research projects incorporating the natural and life sciences, and thus offering a truly novel interdisciplinary perspective. With this in mind, the Institute extends invitations to internationally-renowned researchers, professors and scholars. It is open to all original and outstanding individual projects from a large range of disciplines, research topics and societal questions.
Fellows' selection is based on two primary criteria:
- Scientific excellence, and particularly the innovative aspect of the project, which is expected to produce significant new knowledge on a given topic
- Their project's relevance to the research potential of the Lyon academic site (see the overview of research at the Université de Lyon) and the fellow's willingness to develop effective collaborations with the relevant laboratories
Starting from 2021-2022, the call for candidates specific to the Collegium is reserved for projects falling within the themes of the Excellence Programs of the Université de Lyon.
All other projects part of the programme blanc (blank program) must be submitted within the French Institutes of Advanced Studies (FIAS) call for candidates, which offers stays at the Collegium de Lyon under the same conditions but with European funding from Cofund.