The "Understanding & Acting" conferences

The "Understanding & Acting" conferences shed light on societal issues in order to act on our world. They are addressed to all, citizens and researchers, and aim to highlight, in an accessible language, cutting-edge scientific knowledge and ethical issues in order to participate in decision-making and to act together on a shared world.

Format: 30 to 60 minutes of presentation followed by a discussion with the audience. The presentations are available on our Youtube channel.

Location: Inria Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes - Grand Amphi; TAG C1 bus line

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Upcoming Conferences

(Français) Économie de la post-croissance. La planification écologique contre l'aporie du capitalisme vert
Cédric Durand
21 March 2024
(Français) Absence de plausibilité de la croissance verte, impossibilité à valoriser les ruines industrielles, manque de temps...
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(Français) Technocritiques : de la querelle des machines aux controverses technoscientifiques
François Jarrige
16 May 2024
(Français) Cette conférence permet de déconstruire les lectures simplistes et myopes du développement technologique et de sa...
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(Français) La neutralité en science : du mythe au déni de responsabilité ?
Marlène Jouan
20 June 2024
(Français) La neutralité scientifique peut-elle être davantage qu’un mythe ou un fantasme en réalité nuisible à l’objectivité...
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Inqui-study. From the enjoyment of catastrophe to the worried conditions of transformative possibilities
Sarah Mekdjian
30 December 2024
(Français) Comment l'usage du droit dans les luttes fabrique des objets de recherche ?
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Making history: reading and understanding our time - Johann Chapoutot
Johann Chapoutot
31 December 2024
Conference by Johann Chapoutot, professor of contemporary history at the Sorbonne, specialist in Nazism and the history...
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Past Conferences

(Français) Révolution et transition. Penser l'écologie à l'aune du travail
Paul Guillibert
7 March 2024
(Français) Dans cette conférence, on s'interrogera sur la dimension politique de l'écologie et des pensées qui s'en...
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(Français) Impact du climat sur la santé : qu’est-ce qui nous attend et que peut-on faire ?
Valérie D'Acremont
25 January 2024
(Français) Nous sommes en 2040, une patiente se rend à la case2santé au pied de son immeuble...
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Intervention of Sophie Wahnich
Sophie Wahnich
25 May 2023
(Français) En puisant dans l’Athènes du Ve siècle et dans la Révolution française Sophie Wahnich examine la...
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Inflation, growth, decoupling: What are the political and technical issues?
Florence Jany-Catrice
2 May 2023
(Français) Conférence de Florence Jany-Catrice, économiste, spécialisée dans les indicateurs économiques
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Science patterns
Gabrielle Bouleau
17 January 2023
The work of the sociology of science and technology has shown that scientific activity cannot be understood...
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Impacts on health of the use of digital tools - Servane Mouton
Servane Mouton
15 December 2022
The recreational use of screens has been exponential over the last fifty years, first with the diffusion...
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Can ecological accounting enable the emergence of an economy that respects the biosphere boundaries?
Clément Féger
3 May 2022
The idea of having to rapidly transform our economic system and our modes of collective organization to...
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"It's politics, stupid!" On the few political mechanisms that led to climate and environmental chaos (1970-2030)
Christophe Bouillaud
7 April 2022
(Français) Face aux alertes environnementales globales depuis le début des années 1970, l'absence de réactions vraiment significatives...
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(Français) Responsabilité de la recherche dans le récit de notre histoire sociale ; exemple de la sécurité sociale
Bernard Friot
30 November 2021
(Français) Le récit de la sécurité sociale est celui d'une institution née en 1945 sous l'impulsion du...
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(Français) Technologies et santé : Quels compromis entre éthique, environnement et climat ? Analyse réflexive et expérience de terrain
Valérie d'Acremont
27 September 2021
(Français) Imaginez que vous êtes un.e clinicien.ne travaillant dans un centre de santé d'un pays à ressources...
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New Powers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Who will rule the world in the 21st century?
Asma Mhalla
23 October 2020
The advent of the data economy is shaking up all economic and political paradigms. New forms of...
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Thought and practice of action
Cécile Renouard
8 October 2020
Understanding in order to act, training in order to transform, such is the objective of the Handbook...
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Collapses and Finance: Where to put your money?
Denis Dupré
23 January 2020
How can alternative financial practices limit ecological and societal collapses? In this lecture, we will detail the...
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Finance and Collapses : Finance: arsonist of collapses?
Denis Dupré
5 December 2019
In what way does modern finance have a share of responsibility in ecological and societal collapse? In...
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The imaginary of sovereignty: from the king to the people
Sophie Wahnich
24 September 2019
The king was not hated in 1789, far from it he was praised as a king who...
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"Environmental" issues and blockages to action
Peter Sturm
4 July 2019
(Français) Cette conférence montre un aperçu, pas du tout exhaustif, de blocages à l’action face aux enjeux...
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When the whites wanted to preserve the planet. A History of Geopower, 1865-1914
Christophe Bonneuil
13 June 2019
What if our contemporary planetary "environmental consciousness" were not so new? What if ignoring the environmental reflexivities of...
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Is the risk of blackout real?
Grégoire Chambaz
16 May 2019
A blackout is the interruption of power supply to a region. It is a phenomenon unknown to...
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Raw materials / energy and energy transition
Olivier Vidal
11 April 2019
The energy transition requires building new infrastructure for energy production, storage, transportation, and use that consumes many...
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Digital technology: threat or hope for the environment?
Françoise Berthoud
15 November 2018
Considered as a technological solution to the energy transition and more generally to environmental issues, digital technology...
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Rethinking Nuclear Choices: Security and Democracy
Benoît Pelopidas
9 October 2018
In 2018, there are more than 14,000 nuclear weapons systems in the world; most of the nuclear-weapon...
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Seeds and plant varieties: what new challenges for global governance?
Frédéric Thomas
12 June 2018
During the history of the 20th century, scientific practices have slowly made genetic resources a public good...
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Can finance save the climate?
Alain Grandjean
26 March 2018
During the history of the 20th century, scientific practices have slowly made genetic resources a public good...
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Undo the world? A program for the Anthropocene
Alexandre Monnin et Diego Landivar
15 February 2018
With the Anthropocene, the prospects of collapse multiply. Beyond the diagnosis, the question of the action that...
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Can the "commons" movement reactivate democracy?
Christian Laval
30 November 2017
Alterglobalism and political ecology are opposed to the generalized appropriation of spaces, resources and knowledge. The fights...
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The contemporary democratic question: how to get out of the dead end?
Loïc Blondiaux
16 October 2017
After having imposed itself during the last two centuries as the only legitimate, if not possible, form...
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What alternative to the "crisis of representation"?
Jean-Paul Jouary
8 June 2017
What we commonly call democracy today is essentially "representative democracy", which consists of citizens electing one or...
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Why and how to recognize the currency as a common?
Jean-Michel Servet
4 May 2017
The interdependence of human activities subject to market relations makes money indispensable today. The question of money...
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Environment, economy, collapse: squaring the circle?
Pierre-Yves Longaretti
9 March 2017
At a time when the Western model of economic development is spreading to the whole planet, it...
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Understanding society collapses. What future for ours?
Emmanuel Prados
9 February 2017
Financial crisis, debt crisis, economic crisis, monetary crisis, political crisis, democratic crisis, social crisis, environmental crisis, refugee...
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Reinventing Agriculture and Food of the 21st Century
Gilles Billen
28 June 2016
Agriculture is in crisis. Short-term solutions to increase the productivity of the sector and to ensure international...
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The permanent crisis
Marc Chesney
8 April 2016
This conference addresses the issue of the crisis. Marc Chesney will analyze the historical trajectory that led...
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Act fast and better: What needs to change?
Denis Dupré
11 February 2016
Whether on climate change or on the issue of healthy food for all people, together we identified...
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Feeding 9 billion people healthily: possible or impossible?
Denis Dupré
14 January 2016
This second conference addresses the issue of food and our collective ability to feed 9 billion people...
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Limiting climate change ... Why can't we do it?
Denis Dupré
17 December 2015
(Français) Cette première conférence porte sur la question du changement climatique. Une enquête sur les rouages multiples...
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