The process initiated by the three partner institutions was rolled out over the course of 2024-2025.
Beforehand, a well-argued memorandum convinced the rectors of the two universities and the chairman of MNEMA's board of directors to support the project.
The initiators were motivated by a number of observations. The unprecedented scientific and societal importance acquired in recent decades by the various forms of memory justifies the creation of an institute of study and research dedicated to them.
The issue of memory is part and parcel of the defense of democratic, civic and scientific values, and the fight against liberticidal political ambitions. Through the strong presence of the past that memory illustrates, it influences the crises of our societies, particularly in terms of identity, socio-economics, geopolitics, culture and health.
Representations of the past fuel the claims and interpretations of these crises, and constitute a decisive object of research in the analysis of these phenomena. As a result, the scientific stakes are high, as confirmed by the growing interest in Memory Studies worldwide.
The aging of the population, the deterioration of mental health and the transformation of landscapes brought about by climatic and economic change also strongly call upon the theme of memory.
Finally, the irruption of AI into people's daily lives opens up extraordinary prospects, including in the fields of transmission and therapeutic treatment of human memory, but also makes in-depth analysis of present and future abuses linked to the interaction between artificial and human memory essential.
Memory is involved in the whole spectrum of our humanity, and deserves the mobilization of all our scientific energies.
IERM was created as a transdisciplinary structure to support, promote and federate research into the many forms of memory.
