A look at transitions by David Demortain, Director of LISIS

Introduce yourself in a few words

David Demortain : I am a sociologist of science and public action. I study the phenomenon of expertise in society and in public action: the production and mobilization of scientific knowledge by public policy actors, particularly in health security and environmental health policies.

Can you tell us about the research conducted in the LISIS laboratory?

D.D : The researchers of the LISIS laboratory share the idea that knowledge and technologies do not take shape outside of society, but are fully embedded in society at large: in the social worlds that use these technologies and produce this knowledge, in the industries and economic worlds, in the political spaces in which they are debated, or in the public policies and institutions that mobilize this knowledge to measure and act on problems.

Science and technology are shaped by society at all these levels, as much as they shape it.

What led to the creation of this Mixed Research Unit?

D.D : The laboratory is the result of a long-term effort to structure research in France on science, technology and innovation in society. These efforts were concentrated in the east of Paris, with the idea of creating a reference center on these themes within what is now the Gustave Eiffel University.

A whole series of initiatives have taken place on this site for this purpose, from the creation of a European network of excellence on research and innovation policies, the installation of an INRA (now INRAE) team on sciences in society in Marne-la-Vallée, the launch of the GIS IFRIS and the Labex SITES, as well as the creation of a digital platform for social sciences, CorText.

The creation of the Mixed Research Unit under the supervision of Gustave Eiffel University, INRAE and CNRS extends and capitalizes on all these initiatives.

How do the issues of your Mixed Researched Unit fit in with the themes of our university?

A large part of the laboratory's researchers are interested in 'sociotechnical' transformations: sustainable transitions, digital transformation or digitization, innovation in environmental management, agri-food production or in the management of living organisms. They analyze these transformations in the making, the interactions between the multiple actors who make these transformations, the paths they take, the ways of measuring these transitions and of governing them.

They raise the question of politics in these transformations: what promises, what imaginaries, what directions and controversies for the change of societies? What place for the public and participation in these changes, alongside industries, professions and bureaucracies?

All these questions apply closely to the transformations of the city, to the modes of urbanization and construction, to the evolution of infrastructures, to the heart of the University. And so we are working to address them in projects on the urban and the city. We are working on the co-creation of innovations for sustainable cities, on the place of universities in the production of scientific knowledge on urban issues, or on the measurement and quantification of the environmental impacts of industrial activities...

We also support universities in their missions to support public policies, or science-society relations. Our research on the forms of expertise or participatory sciences can help to understand these missions and the ways to carry them out.

How does LISIS address the issue of transitions within its research?

Transition has become ubiquitous in the media and in government policy - there seems to be little doubt that societies and industries must transition. But behind the current imperative lie complex processes, which LISIS has been addressing for many years.

To analyze transitions, in the plural, we must break down the different mechanisms and rhythms of change at work in transitions, because there are all kinds: the unlocking, the progressive destabilization of the normal functioning of the technical systems in place, the emergence of radical innovations...

We must also get rid of the idea that there is a predefined point of arrival: the paths of transition are shaped and negotiated along the way, and can be multiple and contested. To understand this, we need to link the technical to the social: transitions depend on how technical options are shaped and implemented, and this depends on social norms, on public policies in place, on an industrial economy, but also on the relations between dominant actors who collectively influence the direction of change.

It also depends on the social movements and public debates that these changes can be the object of. Transitions also articulate in different ways the local and the global, they do not unfold through one or the other level exclusively.

This view of transitions is applied by the laboratory's researchers, particularly its thematic group dedicated to innovation and transitions, and a broader international research community, the Sustainability Transitions Research Network, to which we contribute, to understand transitions in the agricultural and food sectors, but also in the energy and transport sectors, subjects at the heart of the I-Site.

This is an approach that the social sciences can deploy in many sectors, all of which are affected by these dynamics of change.