Missions

The Institut Henri Poincaré hosts and organises various types of international scientific programmes in the renovated Borel and Perrin buildings.

Programmes policy

Thematic programmes

Thematic programmes are the core programmes of IHP since its re-foundation in 1994. Their goal is to bring together, on a given theme, internationally renowned scientists and researchers at the beginning of their careers or in training (doctoral students, post-doctoral students) so that they can interact over time and move forward together on their research issues.
In addition to material and logistical support, these programmes receive financial support from IHP and its partners. The support of IHP comes from the endowment and the resources allocated for invitation by its supervisory bodies, as well as the funds of the CARMIN laboratory of excellence.
The partners involved in a perennial way are :

• CIMPA, which supports the visit of researchers from developing countries,
• CIRM, which hosts research schools at the beginning or end of the programme,
• IESC in Cargese, which also hosts research schools at the beginning of the programme,
• Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris (programme FSMP-IHP),
• IHÉS for post-doctoral students,
• University Paris-Saclay (financing of stays).

Researchers selected by the scientific organising committee of a thematic programme are invited to stay in Paris and participate for as long as possible (academics based in France are encouraged to request a ’delegation’ from the CNRS in time for the duration of the programme).
Standard thematic programmes last three months and are traditionally organised between January and April, April and July, September and December.
Shorter programmes of three or six weeks have been introduced to allow emerging communities to also benefit from the services offered by IHP.

Programme Research in Paris

The Research in Paris programme is intended to host scientists in small groups, just as in most similar institutes. The selected groups receive material, logistical and financial support to advance or finalise their research work at IHP. The financial support to this programme is part of the CARMIN laboratory of excellence activities.

Doctoral Training Programme

By its missions, IHP participates in doctoral training. In this programme, it provides financial support for the organisation of doctoral courses, preferably at IHP or hosted by any of its partners. The financial support to this programme is part of the actions of the laboratory of excellence CARMIN.

Organisation of programmes

The coordination and organisation of the programmes selected by IHP's Scientific Advisory Board are assigned to the Centre Émile Borel (CEB), the department whose main mission it is. The CEB team works closely with the other departments, in particular regarding reception, finance, multimedia.
The other two departments of IHP, the library and the Maison Poincaré, are also involved in the scientific programmes.
The library (which occupies the entire first floor of the Borel building) provides the necessary documentary resources and work spaces complementary to the individual offices for the participants.
The Maison Poincaré (which will eventually be installed in the Perrin building) coordinates the outreach activities around the scientific programmes (interviews, conferences for schools and/or the larger public, etc.).

Scientific field of action

IHP tries to cover all disciplinary fields where mathematics, theoretical physics and computer science (from the most fundamental aspects to applications) play an important role. It also strives to develop interactions between mathematics and other disciplines, in particular biology.
Applications to the programmes are evaluated against the missions of IHP by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of IHP twice a year, in June and in November.
The SAB is particularly sensitive to themes that have not been the subject of recent activities within the institute (e.g. statistics, scientific computing, high-energy physics, without this list being restrictive).
In addition, IHP is committed to advancing gender and diversity issues. Therefore, the SAB pays particular attention to the balanced representation of women and men, as well as of different nationalities, among the speakers and within the scientific committees.

Indicative schedule

The calls for applications are relayed each year via IHP's newsletter, to which you can subscribe here. The generic calendar is as follows.

Call for proposals in year n

• Thematic three-monthly programs for year n+3
• Six-week thematic programs for year n+2
• Program for small groups "Research in Paris" for the year n+1
• Doctoral course support program for year n+1.

Usual deadlines

May 15 and October 15

For more information, please refer to the Programmes description page.

Since the 2010s, IHP and its partners have been organizing all kinds of initiatives for the public, schools, teachers and companies: workshops, film clubs, conferences, documentaries, exhibitions, festivals, training sessions, interviews, jams, games, podcasts, etc.

Since 2020, the IHP's missions related to outreach and raising public awareness (in mathematics, physics and related sciences) are coordinated by a specific department, the Maison Poincaré, which is also the name of the museum opened in 2023.

On two levels of the Perrin building, the Maison Poincaré offers the public a permanent exhibition (on the ground floor), temporary exhibitions (in the basement) and various activities in premises provided for this purpose: a large room for workshops and training, an amphitheatre for screenings and conferences, a spacious room for physical activities (notably the mixed reality experience Holo-Math).

News and past events can be found in the Outreach section.

Because of its history, IHP preserves and develops resources and heritage collections, in addition to scientific journals and monographs: posters, institutional and personal archives, brochures, postcards, machines, medals, models, portraits, old books, bookmarks, theses, etc.
In addition, IHP has its own journals. The Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincaré, originally created in 1930, are four international peer-reviewed journals that formally belong to the association Publications de l'IHP.
The catalogs and the modalities of access to all these resources are to be found at the rubric Library & resources. A page is specially dedicated to Annales, whose "royalties" support IHP projects through the association Publications de l'IHP.

Part of the collections of machines, medals and models are integrated into the permanent exhibition of the Maison Poincaré.

It is part of IHP's mission to welcome the scientific community in its premises. This includes hosting associations, foundations and learned societies on a permanent basis, as well as occasional or regular colloquia, working groups, meetings and seminars.
The description of the spaces and the modalities of reservation are in the rubric Rooms & services.

The house is open to the entire scientific community on a daily basis, who can meet in the common areas.
New opportunities are available in the Perrin building, including the ability to reserve transient offices and to privatise certain spaces for events.