MAK’IT celebrates five years of activity.
The Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT) is the newest addition to the family of Institutes for Advanced Studies. It was founded by the University of Montpellier in March 2019. Launching the Institute just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world was a real challenge. It forced us to be creative, imaginative, and resilient, and led us to adapt on a daily basis.
Our first guests emphasized the need to think the unthinkable at an institute like this. We have tried to do just that—not only because of the constraints, but also because we want to tackle the complex challenges facing the world. The series of crises that have unfolded since 2019 will certainly not contradict me. Despite these challenges, the Institute has kept its promises: it has welcomed 64 researchers from 32 countries across borders; and it has organized 180 events, bringing together a community of 300 scholars from every continent.
We set our sights high and decided to put our faith in collective intelligence to tackle the explosion of fake news, the growing distrust of science, and our collective inability to manage uncertainty and risk. To achieve this, we decided to focus on analyzing controversies as a way to identify barriers to the transition toward sustainability. We have consistently sought to strengthen and promote the skills that foster dialogue, to avoid succumbing to polarization. We organized group activities by hosting cohorts, thereby engaging all visiting researchers. We organized and participated in numerous events bringing together visiting researchers, the local academic community, and international colleagues. Fake news, crises and disruptions, and engagement in transitions have served as a common thread in exploring the role of science. The Institute thus pursues an intellectual mission, while also serving as a vehicle for outreach and international engagement.
Driven by a desire to create a space for reflection and breathing room—a place to sort through our doubts and rethink the world—we have sought to make our modest contribution to the discussion on the role of science. We have benefited from the guidance and advice of an exceptional MAK’IT Scientific and Advisory Board, the MASC. Neli Aparecida de Mello-Théry would be proud to see her “child” grow up and become an adult. Beyond the challenges we face in ensuring a sustainable future for our Institute, we hope that MAK’IT will contribute more and more to its family—the family of institutes for advanced studies—by engaging with European and global networks.
Patrick Caron, Director of MAK’IT
Le rapport d’activités 2019-2023 est accessible sur le site internet de MAK’IT.