The Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds

Founded in 1986, The Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds (IREMAM) is the successor of older centers that focused upon the southern Mediterranean coast, anchored since 1958 around a multidisciplinary research hub in Aix-en-Provence. Its creation confirmed the trend for broadening research, initially centered around North Africa, to the entire Muslim Mediterranean world, as well as the growing role of the social sciences in our understanding of contemporary societies. Its long experience and the richness of its documentary resources make it one of the largest research centers on this part of the world in France.

Today, the Institute is a “Joint Research Unit” (UMR or Unite mixte de recherche), a collaboration between the CNRS and Aix-Marseille University.

Its offices are based in the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’homme (1997), on the Jas de Bouffan Campus. The Institute has a manifold mission; research, documentation, research training, receiving the public, and the publication and dissemination of knowledge. The Institute boasts around forty permanent collaborating staff members – researchers, research professors, engineers and technicians – and is connected to a broad network of associated members.

The Institute is also a laboratory environment for doctoral students, associated with the Aix-Marseille University Doctoral School, and hosts four Masters of Research. Close to fifty students of all nationalities receive training here in the humanities and social science research professions.

Lastly, the laboratory maintains numerous partnerships with research centers on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, as well as strong ties with French research centers abroad.