The International Institute of Research in Paris—launched in 2023 under the direction of Robert Morrissey, Benjamin Franklin Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures—has found a spectacular home at the John W. Boyer Center in Paris, in the vibrant neighborhood growing up around the Bibliothèque nationale de France in the thirteenth arrondissement. The Center’s location and its outstanding facilities offer an ideal venue to advance the core mission of the IIRP—broadening the University of Chicago’s research footprint in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
To date, the Institute has awarded more than 100 grants to faculty from all four of the University’s academic divisions as well as seven schools and institutes. Collaborators range from the Université Paris Cité and Institut Curie nearby and research institutions throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, to the Institut des Sciences et Sociétés in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the Tintera photo archive in Cairo, and the department of Trauma Surgery in Cape Town. We invite you to browse through the IIRP-funded projects, which span a remarkable diversity of research fields and topics.
As IIRP directors, we strive to support and further expand the innovative research conducted by University faculty and students under the auspices of the Institute. The Faculty Grant program aims to leverage the facilities and resources of the IIRP to promote existing research networks—and establish new ones—among institutions throughout the target regions. We just launched Resident Faculty Fellowships, which will bring collaborative teams of University of Chicago and international scholars for month-long residencies at the Center. We also host short and long-term research residencies of our scholars and students. Developing further opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research abroad is another of our priorities. The event program at the Center welcomes conferences and workshops of high research impact.
We invite you to engage with the exciting research taking place at the IIRP and are looking forward to hosting you in Paris!
Paolo Privitera | Faculty Director, IIRP and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and the College
Michèle Lowrie | Academic Director 2025-26, Center in Paris, Deputy Faculty Director, IIRP and Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor in Classics and in the College