Thinking differently about digital technology: the rise of humanities and social sciences at Inria

Why are humanities and social sciences (HSS) now a strategic issue for Inria?

Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau: For several years now, Inria has been presented as the ‘national institute for digital science and technology’. However, digital technology now has such an impact on all aspects of our societies that we believe it is essential to approach it with a scientific approach that goes beyond computer science and applied mathematics, even though these disciplines naturally remain at the heart of our activities.

Many project teams have long been involved in work related to the humanities and social sciences. In an internal analysis carried out in 2021 by Daniel Le Metayer and Florent Masseglia, there were around sixty such projects, mainly involving psychology, sociology, economics, law and philosophy. These interactions have produced notable results, for example in the field of digital law, on privacy issues, and in the field of education. However, the analysis highlighted the great heterogeneity of collaborations, the need for steering and coordination at the institute level, and the absence of strategic partnerships with institutions specialising in the humanities and social sciences. We therefore felt that we were not up to the challenge. In light of this observation, we felt it was essential to take a structured approach to fully integrate the humanities and social sciences into our scientific strategy and our modes of action.

In practical terms, how does Inria's involvement in the field of humanities and social sciences manifest itself?

Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau: An initial initiative, launched in 2021 with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, consisted of offering Inria delegations to teacher-researchers in the social sciences and humanities. This scheme has gradually grown in strength, from three people in 2021 to a dozen today.

In 2022, the desire to strengthen the humanities and social sciences within the institute was enshrined in the document governing ‘Exploratory Actions’. Several projects were thus supported in connection with history, law, sociology, etc. Some of these Exploratory Actions involved teacher-researchers on humanities and social sciences delegations.

In addition, two new project team proposals have been developed during this period, SEMIS and ADN, in collaboration with sociologists and philosophers, on topics related to sustainable development and the geopolitical and environmental impact of digital technology.

However, one thing all these initiatives had in common was that they were led by computer scientists or mathematicians. Given the importance of digital technology in the fields of geopolitics, law, education, security, etc., we felt it was necessary to develop new activities led by experts in the social sciences and humanities employed by Inria and forming part of a national strategy.

As part of the coordination of the ESR component of the National AI Strategy, the creation of LaborIA was a first initiative in this direction, launched in 2021 as a joint effort between Inria and the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Its purpose is to conduct sociological research on the impact of AI on the organisation of work. Its activity is linked to the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), launched in 2020 and then integrated into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2024. From 2021 onwards, LaborIA was integrated into the AI Programme of the Digital Programmes Agency, which was pioneered by Inria.

In 2025, we organised our first recruitment campaign aimed exclusively at scientists with a PhD in social sciences and humanities, which enabled us to recruit four colleagues on Inria Starting Faculty Position (ISFP) contracts. Two new project teams were created as a result, with two successful candidates from this campaign: REGALIA between the Inria Centre at the University of Bordeaux and the Inria Centre in Paris, on issues of digital regulation and AI evaluation, and SIRA at the Inria Centre at the University of Rennes with INSA Rouen, on issues of AI governance and auditing, using Science and Technology Studies (STS) methods. Another new project team is in the pipeline with Sciences Po Paris and another of the winners.

Several other recent initiatives have been launched with the social sciences and humanities. For example, in the field of economics, the Inria Foundation has created a five-year chair in ‘Markets and Learning’, headed by Michael I. Jordan, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, supported by five major corporate sponsors (Air Liquide, BNP Paribas Asset Management Europe, EDF, Orange and SNCF). In addition, Inria has been involved by its university partners in three major SHS projects as part of two national calls for proposals supported by ‘France 2030’: DemoCIS, led by the University of Lille, on the evolution of democracies, and Sphinx, led by Sorbonne University, on the preservation of cultural heritage. Inria is also involved in the IntegrIA project led by Sorbonne Nouvelle, which aims to integrate AI into the training of 25,000 students in the humanities and social sciences.

In light of all these new activities, it became necessary to strengthen the DGDS. A position of Deputy Director of Scientific Affairs (ADS) entirely dedicated to the humanities and social sciences was created in 2025. It is held by Juliette Sénéchal, professor of private law and digital law at the University of Lille, who spent two years on secondment with the SPIRALS project team.

What are the main challenges (scientific, organisational, cultural) to be overcome in order to make collaboration between the humanities and social sciences and digital sciences a success?

Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau: The scientific challenge is to approach digital technology in the most relevant way possible, embracing all of its dimensions, which go far beyond computer science and mathematics. The advantage of doing so in an institute such as ours is that we are as close as possible to those who are building digital science and technology.

Recruiting permanent scientists in the humanities and social sciences was an important step in this direction. We now face two challenges: on the one hand, these new colleagues must integrate into the institute, benefit from the proximity of scientists who ‘do digital’ and share their insights with them; on the other hand, they must maintain links with their original scientific communities, where their work must be recognised. None of this can be taken for granted, but given the personalities and backgrounds of the colleagues we have just recruited, I am confident about the future!

Juliette Sénéchal: In order to contribute in particular to the integration of permanent scientists in the humanities and social sciences within Inria, it is important to foster constructive dialogue between researchers from different disciplines and research methodologies. In this regard, Inria held its first day dedicated to dialogue between computer science and mathematics, and the humanities and social sciences on 6 February.

It focused on cross-cutting issues relating not only to the interaction between humans and digital technologies, but also to the concepts of security, interpretability, auditability and explainability of artificial intelligence systems.

This first day was an opportunity for these scientists to present the specificities of their disciplines and methodologies, with a view to promoting interdisciplinarity and even transdisciplinarity with computer science and mathematics.

To maintain and develop this momentum, this first day will be followed by further themed days at various Inria centres, with a view to strengthening links with the various national, European and international university and research networks dedicated to the humanities and social sciences.

Finally, this dynamic must be accompanied by a process of precise mapping of the various humanities and social sciences that are intended to engage in constructive dialogue with computer science and mathematics. This mapping is not easy in itself, as there are a multitude of classifications and typologies within the humanities and social sciences, both at the national (Conseil national des Universités, CNRS) and European (ERC nomenclature) levels, not to mention the current creation of new families of SHS whose names reflect the ongoing hybridisation with computer science and mathematics, including, but not limited to, computational social sciences, computational humanities and science and technology studies.

What are Inria's priorities in the field of humanities and social sciences in the medium and long term? 

Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau: We want to remain open to a variety of topics, focusing on ‘projects’ rather than disciplines, in keeping with Inria's historical organisational structure. However, to avoid spreading ourselves too thin and to address the important issues of our time, we are focusing on three main areas:

• Digital regulation and governance
• Information manipulation and ‘cognitive warfare’ techniques
• The impact of digital technology on work and, more generally, on social organisations

To this end, we will be working on new partnerships with public authorities (in conjunction, of course, with the Directorate-General for Public Policy Support) and institutions specialising in the social sciences and humanities, in order to address these topics in a relevant manner. We are only just getting started!