On July 15, 2021, the Ministry of Culture and the CNRS renewed their research partnership by signing a framework agreement for a period of five years.

This agreement takes into account the priorities of the Ministry of Culture in cultural research, in convergence with those of the CNRS, in the fields of research related to its fields of intervention: preventive and programmed archaeology on the national territory, history, history of art book history, ethnology, anthropology and intangible heritage, protection, conservation and valorization, also digital and multimedia, of heritage, archives, music and musicology, architecture, urban planning and landscapes, creation and living performance, plastic arts, digital art and bio-art, artificial intelligence, heritage and linguistic practices, language science and technology, sociology, socio-economics and cultural law.

A major tool for cooperation, the framework agreement promotes development new research themes and helps open up new approaches.

The renewal of the 2021-2025 agreement comes in a very dynamic context for national and European research, due to the simultaneous launch of European calls for projects since January 2021 (Horizon Europe Programme) and Future Investment Programmes (PIA4), now integrated into France 2030. To this is added the Research Programming Act (LPR) and the new means devoted to structuring research at the national level. This framework agreement is also a major tool in the new departmental research strategy, which the Ministry of Culture is updating for the period 2022-2026.

The 2021-2025 agreement aims to consolidate excellence in heritage research, and to strengthen the integration of cultural and artistic practices and productions in research projects. It encourages links between higher education institutions under the Ministry of Culture and CNRS research structures.

Various mechanisms set up within this framework (joint units, federative structures, thematic networks, research groups, etc.) will make it possible to:

  • support research activities in the research structures of the Ministry of Culture and in the higher education institutions Culture, in connection with the organization of LMD courses;
  • fostering common approaches to issues of culture, interculturality and social cohesion in a changing society;
  • support joint actions in disciplines involved in the conservation and restoration of cultural and natural heritage properties; in particular in the construction of the ERIHS project, at European and national level
  • supporting the development of an increasingly interdisciplinary approach combining arts, technology and science for creation and dissemination;
  • to contribute to the dynamics of research rooted in artistic practice and creation, in the fields of plastic arts, design, architecture, musical creation and performing arts;
  • to feed the current reflection on the interfaces art/digital and arts/sciences and techniques of life;
  • encourage collaborative research on collections and holdings within national museums, the National Institute of Art History, public libraries and archives;
  • coordinating the production of catalogues, directories and scientific inventories;
  • coordinating actions on digitisation, the digital dissemination of research, the interoperability of infrastructures and tools, the pooling of research data and their availability to the entire scientific community, particularly in connection with the Very Large Research Infrastructure (TGIR) Huma-Num.

The Ministry of Culture and the CNRS aim to:

  • increase the decompartmentalization of the research teams concerned in an interdisciplinary perspective and promote the creation of research clusters, by pooling resources;
  • promote the dissemination of research results with a view to scientific excellence;
  • promote the design, development, transfer and dissemination of scientific methods and technical tools within joint units or laboratories specific to each institution;
  • to develop scientific and technical culture and its dissemination in all fields of cultural research;
  • develop participatory actions and research and collaborative artistic and cultural production;
  • to encourage new European and international cooperation between research laboratories and cultural institutions that can contribute to the scientific and cultural influence of France, participating in European research programmes and European research infrastructures.