ENS de Lyon Press release on September 28, 2023

The start of the 2023-2024 academic year at ENS de Lyon marks the beginning of a new phase for the institution, following a year of provisional administration. Appointed President on May 26, Emmanuel Trizac outlined his plans to the Board of Directors in July. The Board today approved the composition and remit of the new governance team. 

According to Emmanuel Trizac, “ENS de Lyon is a jewel, albeit a small one, whose image may have been weakened recently, but whose DNA, namely top-level training and research and their inseparable link, is intact. As proof of this, I would like to point out the School's attractiveness, both in terms of students, whom we recruit from among the very best, and in terms of international recognition of our research”.

At the start of the 2023 academic year, the number of new students has increased: 500 new students have been admitted, either by competitive examination (out of 8,000 applicants) or by admission on their academic record basis (out of 2,000 applicants). Also of note was the opening of the 2nd year of the Sciences et Society advanced studies cycle, in partnership with the Lycée du Parc, with some 50 new admissions out of 1,600 applicants. 
Internationally, recent editions of the Shanghai and QS rankings have placed ENS de Lyon 1st among French institutions for per capita performance, revealing the institution's very high scientific quality. In addition, THE has ranked ENS de Lyon 12nd among the world's best small universities.

An osmosis between top-level training and research

The challenge facing the École normale supérieure de Lyon will be to preserve this essential link between research and training, by deploying its contributions as widely as possible, well beyond the academic community in the strict meaning of the term. "An ENS has a duty to produce, transmit and circulate knowledge which, ultimately, makes the world more intelligible," says Emmanuel Trizac. "Faced with the urgency of our times, especially for young people, it is on this understanding of the world, in the complexity of its transformation and its challenges, that we will be able to build more liveable societies, for individuals as well as for eco-systems".  

In addition to its primary missions, the new governance structure has a number of priorities:

• Social openness and profile diversity in recruitment. In particular, with the other ENSs collaboration, ENS de Lyon is coordinating the organization of a symposium on this theme in June 2024, which will shed scientific light on this issue.
• Transitions, or how training and research can transform themselves and contribute to remodeling uses, technologies and societies. Here, multidisciplinary is a major asset for rethinking models that have become obsolete. The ecological question, like the upheaval predicted by the irruption of artificial intelligence in all activities, will be at the heart of our reflections and proposals.
• Opening up knowledge to different audiences and its impact: open science, research promotion, social and technological innovation, interface between research and education, educational mediation, artistic and scientific culture.
• Quality of life on ENS de Lyon campuses, for students and staff alike. How can we make ENS the place where people want to be to study, do research and work? A great deal of attention will be paid to the work environment and study life quality, with priority given to student health, especially mental health. 
• A resolute contribution to the dynamism of the Lyon Saint-Étienne academic site, 1st academic site outside Île-de-France. The AILyS project, submitted as part of France 2030's IA Cluster call for projects, is coordinated by ENS de Lyon. Selected in the 1st phase of project pre-selection in July, it is based on the broadest possible consortium of establishments on the site, including universities and grandes écoles.

Composition of the governance team

The new governance team will prioritize a method based on listening and dialogue, with all communities and their representatives.

• Emmanuelle Boulineau, Professor of Geography and member of the EVS laboratory (Environment, City, Society), has been entrusted with the Vice-Presidency for Studies since September 2021. She will be responsible for implementing the School's training policy.
• Christine Détrez, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Max Weber Center, and François Roudier, Professor of Biology, former Director of the Biology Department and member of the RDP (Plant Reproduction and Development Laboratory), are jointly responsible for the Vice-Presidency for Research. The Vice-Presidency for Research will be involved in all matters relating to research policy and startegy. It will coordinate and lead all activities. This vice-presidency will be embodied by a duo who will operate at the same level and in close collaboration, as close to the field as possible, to ensure that the richness of research is better taken into account.
• The Vice-Presidency for International Relations has been entrusted to Vincent Michelot, Professor of Political History of the United States at Sciences Po Lyon, which he directed from 2014 to 2016, and member of the Triangle laboratory, who has just returned from a 4-year assignment in Washington, D.C., as Attaché for Academic Cooperation and Director of Campus France at the French Embassy.
• Stephane Parola, Professor of Chemistry at Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University and Director of the Chemistry Laboratory of ENS de Lyon, has been appointed Vice-President for Strategy. He will assist the President with cross-functional projects to transform the School: ecological transition, social inclusion, social dialogue, coordination with other institutions in the greater-Lyon community. 
   

About École normale supérieure de Lyon

ENS de Lyon has its origins in the former Écoles normales supérieures of Fontenay-aux-Roses and Saint-Cloud, whose mission in 1880 was to train the "hussardes" and "hussards noirs" of the Republic, in order to fulfill the ambition of emancipating citizens and promoting social progress through secular, free and compulsory education. The School was created in 2010 to bring together the exact and experimental sciences on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other, which had been established in Lyon in 1987 and 2000 respectively. It is a founding member of the University of Lyon, France's second-largest university and scientific cluster, comprising 4 universities and over 20 schools.

With its internationally-renowned cutting-edge research and its expert institute in education, the ENS de Lyon provides training through research, culminating in the ENS de Lyon diploma, with the majority of its 2,500 students pursuing doctoral studies. Its students, recognized for their ability to grasp complex issues, go on to careers in teaching and research, senior civil service positions and management positions in the private sector.

It comprises 12 training departments and 24 research laboratories, with a very broad disciplinary spectrum. It pursues an active policy of disseminating knowledge and culture.