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National Center for Scientific Research

Centre national de la recherche scientifique
Logo of the CNRS
Motto French: Dépasser les frontières
English: Advancing the Frontiers
Formation 19 October 1939; 77 years ago (1939-10-19)
Type Governmental organisation
Purpose Fundamental research
Headquarters 16th arrondissement of Paris
Official language
French
President
Alain Fuchs
Main organ
Comité national de la recherche scientifique
Budget
€3.3 billion
Staff
30,000
Website www.cnrs.fr

The French National Center for Scientific Research (French: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the largest governmental research organisation in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. It employs 32,000 permanent employees (researchers, engineers, and administrative staff) and 6,000 temporary workers.

Following a 2009 reorganisation, the CNRS is divided into 10 institutes:

Previously, it was divided into INSU, IN2P3, and several scientific departments.

The National Committee for Scientific Research, which is in charge of the recruitment and evaluation of researchers, is divided into 47 sections (e.g. section 1 is mathematics; section 7 is computer science and control). Research groups are affiliated with one primary institute and an optional secondary institute; the researchers themselves belong to one section.

For administrative purposes, the CNRS is divided into 18 regional divisions (including four for the Paris region).

CNRS research units are called laboratoires informally and unités de recherche in administrative parlance. They are either operated solely by CNRS (and then known as unités propres de recherche or UPR) or in association with other institutions, such as universities or INSERM (in which case they are called unités mixtes de recherche or UMR). Each research unit has a unique numeric code attached and is headed by a director (typically, a university professor or CNRS research director). A research unit may be subdivided into research groups ("équipes"). CNRS also has support units, which, analogously to the research units, are called unités propres de service (UPS) or unités mixtes de service (UMS). A UPS or UMS may for instance supply administrative, computing, library, or engineering services.

Currently, CNRS researchers are active in 1,256 research groups, 85 percent of which are mixed and also include non-CNRS researchers (most notably university professors); mixed groups tend to be housed inside universities and other institutions of higher education.

The headquarters of CNRS are at the Campus Gérard Mégie in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

Researchers who are permanent employees of the CNRS are classified in two categories, in order of seniority:


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