Launched in March 2023, the Social Economy, Protection and Society (ESoPS) Chair work at the intersection between the social economy and social protection.
The creation of the ESoPS Chair has been driven by the need to build a comprehensive understanding of social protection and its stakeholders.
Its scientific program aims to be inclusive, stemming from the need to pool the results of research to undertake cross-cutting analyses that respond to current issues. Its subjects concern social protection as a whole, and thus analyzes health and healthcare access in various dimensions (access to care, coverage of healthcare costs, etc.)
While research in medicine, the humanities, and the social sciences has produced numerous rigorous analyses of health protection, poverty alleviation, employment trajectories, or loss of autonomy, these studies most often focus on a single social risk. Moreover, disciplinary specializations, inherited from our system and the necessary organization of scientific research, seldom interact. As a result, a comprehensive view of social protection is lacking. Building such a perspective requires the inclusion of all stakeholders, particularly those in the social and solidarity economy, who play an increasingly important role in social protection.
At the intersection of the social economy and social protection, the ESoPS Chair seeks to break down disciplinary boundaries in the study of current transformations in the social world by conducting scientific research, outreach activities, and genuinely interdisciplinary training that integrates legal, economic, sociological, and historical approaches.
As a space for dialogue between disciplines, it aims to promote the exchange of knowledge among stakeholders in social protection—whether academics, experts, representatives of institutions or associations, or practitioners working directly in the field.
The strength of the ESoPS chair resides in the fact that it is not only an academic chair but ensures ongoing exchanges of expertise and results between policy makers, researchers, social security providers and civil society. To break down knowledge barriers between these different stakeholders, it organizes events of different nature during which representants from diverse institutional backgrounds can meet. These events enable the dissemination of research results to policy makers and civil society and allow researchers to gain first-hand insight into social needs.
Our ambition: to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomena surrounding social protection in order to help improve the effective support of individuals.
The strength of the ESoPS chair resides in the fact that it ensures ongoing exchanges of expertise and results between policy makers, researchers, healthcare providers and civil society. To break down knowledge barriers between these different stakeholders, it organizes events of different nature during which representants from diverse institutional background can meet. These events enable the dissemination of research results to policy makers and civil society, and allow researchers to gain first-hand insight into social needs.
