Manager: Professor Brigitte BLANQUET
Disciplines involved: Anthropology; Neuroscience; Psychology; Educational Sciences; Law; Computer Science and Robotics; Philosophy; Linguistics; Sociology; Theology
Topic and goals
Group 4 aims to analyse situations of vulnerability experienced by children, adolescents,
adults and older people in various contexts: family, school, social, educational and hospital settings.
It focuses in particular on unaccompanied minors, children in the care of
child welfare services, and patients with chronic conditions. This issue raises two
major questions: on the one hand, the effectiveness of support, care and treatment relationships; and on the other hand, the role of the body as a means of expressing suffering and vulnerability.
Group 4 conducts multidisciplinary research that integrates the ethical, legal, social, anthropological and psychological dimensions of human vulnerability. It seeks to understand the issues relating to the body within individual, family and social dynamics, whilst developing support strategies tailored to the different stages of life. Various collaborative projects have been developed to explore this bodily dimension in greater depth, examining how the body expresses suffering and the after-effects of trauma, as well as how these phenomena challenge current practices of care and support.
The cluster also incorporates a reflection on the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly with regard to its impact on care, education and support practices for vulnerable groups. Research Area 4 has a twofold objective: to deepen theoretical reflection on these issues and to propose concrete solutions through educational, legal and social measures, whilst taking into account the ethical challenges posed by technological developments.
Flagship project for 2025-2030: ‘Adversity: experiences, transformations and contemporary challenges’
Building on the research group’s previous work, the theme of ‘trial’ emerges as a unifying lens through which to examine individual and collective trajectories in the face of contemporary challenges. Adversity, whether endured or chosen, individual or collective, triggers processes of transformation that reveal human vulnerability, but also our capacity for assimilation, integration, reconstruction and overcoming. It challenges the frameworks of support and the dynamics of individuation and subjectivation, navigating the tension between individuality and belonging to the collective. As a formative experience, it cuts across a variety of contexts: illness, discrimination and precariousness, but also rites of passage, sporting challenges and spiritual trials. These experiences shape our relationship with ourselves, with others and with institutions, influencing social norms, solidarity and the recognition of individual rights. In a world marked by uncertainty and the reconfiguration of knowledge, it seems important to understand how adversity shapes identities and societal responses. This project aims to provide a space for transdisciplinary reflection, integrating psychological, social, philosophical, anthropological, ethical and legal perspectives, in order to consider adversity as a tool for understanding contemporary transformations.