Situated right at the heart of the Parc des Calanques, a famous nature reserve in the South of France, CIRM is a center dedicated to international seminars and research in mathematics. It is a residential center where researchers live in total immersion.
CIRM’s local, national and international missions are:
- to share the latest discoveries in mathematical sciences
- to make advances in fundamental mathematical questions
- to develop ambitious projects in collaboration with other sciences
- to ensure transfer of knowledge to young researchers and doctoral students.
Scientific activities
CIRM programs
- Jean-Morlet Chair: a foreign researcher in residence works for a whole semester in collaboration with a project leader in a local mathematics department and organizes 5 or 6 events of various types and duration.
- Conferences & Research Schools last 5 days with an average of 60 to 90 participants. The calendar is planned two years in advance.
- Multiyear programs guarantee one week at CIRM for several years in a row to develop a scientific project in mathematics & mathematics in interaction with other disciplines.
- Workshops are more specialized than larger events and are attended by 20 to 40 participants on average. They last 2 to 5 days.
- Research in Pairs: 2 to 4 people meet for a week or two in order to finish a paper or a book chapter or to start a new collaboration.
CIRM also holds joint programs with other entities
- An advanced summer research school with an industrial focus together with SMAI, CEMRACS
- The Thematic Month, a winter session on mathematics, computer sciences or theoretical physics with the mathematics departments of Aix-Marseille University
- IRiGs (International Research in Groups) together with other international mathematical centers in Europe: ICMS Edinburgh, CRM Barcelona, Banach Centre Bedlewo and IHP Paris
- Preparatory schools before a trimester at Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP).
- Research schools targeted at young researchers and partly funded by the French Mathematical Society (SMF)
- INTERFACE: a program with and for industry organized with Insmi/CNRS, several learned societies (SFDS, SIF, SMAI, SMF) and LabEx Amies, Archimède and CARMIN
With CIRM’s administrative and residential teams taking care of their needs, researchers can focus exclusively on their own scientific projects.
CIRM Profile
- Founded in 1981
- Jointly managed by the Société Mathématique de France (SMF), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Aix-Marseille Université.
- CIRM is part of the Centre d’Accueil et de Rencontres Mathématiques INternationales (CARMIN, Laboratory of Excellence) together with CIMPA, IHES, and IHP. It is involved in the development of carmin.tv, a platform of audiovisual resources dedicated to the dissemination of mathematical research and mathematics in interaction with other sciences.
- Member of ERCOM, European Research Centers On Mathematics
- A renovation and expansion program carried out in 2020 created a new conference room, a seminar / videoconference room and additional accommodation, enabling two large events to be hosted simultaneously.
Key figures
- Over 4500 participants a year
- 53% foreign participation on average. Over 70% for the Jean-Morlet Chair
- 50 large international workshops per year and many other activities
- The CIRM library holds more than 75,000 volumes, including books and issues of periodical reviews
- The Audiovisual Mathematics Library, which provides over 1000 interviews, research and outreach talks in all areas of mathematics. It will merge into carmin.tv at the end of 2021
- In response to the pandemic, CIRM implemented new formats, establishing virtual and hybrid conferences
