Laura Michel – MAK’IT Great Again

Laura Michel takes the lead. This is likely because the deputy director of the Center for Political and Social Studies (Cepel) knows that every field within the humanities and social sciences (HSS) is essential for analyzing how our societies absorb, process, and sometimes reject environmental issues. A specialist in the greening of industrial and territorial policies, the researcher has led the Montpellier I-site’s key initiative on public transition policies (KIPPT) since 2024, which brings together political science, education, economics, law, management, and geography.

This program, which is 100% SHS, involves some twenty research laboratories in Montpellier.“Our bimonthly seminars are truly dynamic, with about fifty participants at each session,” says the political scientist, whose goal is to bring researchers together as a community. With a budget of 300,000 euros over two years, the initiative also funds multidisciplinary research projects emphasizing the dialogue between science and society: “A dozen projects have already been launched on topics ranging from agrivoltaics to mobility, including outdoor sports and the financing of transitions.”

Observe the trade-offs

This goal of fostering connections between researchers working on transition policies and public and civil society actors suits her well. Indeed, Laura Michel has a background outside of research, having worked precisely in the service of local governments and industry.

After working as a research analyst at the Observatory of Local Public Service, she went on to serve as a consultant on environmental conflict management for various industrial groups. This gave her a front-row seat to the trade-offs involved.

Above all, this experience convinced her to return to research. She did so through a thesis funded by ADEME, which she defended in 2003; this led directly to her appointment as an associate professor at the University of Montpellier a year later. Since then, she has been examining“how environmental issues are addressed in the public sphere and how industry and elected officials incorporate them, with the aim not of transforming the industrial system but of ensuring its longevity.” In short, she seeks to understand how the conditions for maintaining the current system—however destructive it may be—are created.

For example, Laura Michel examines the processes by which environmental criticism is channeled into public policy:“Environmental controversies have fostered a greening of public policy. But this faces just as much resistance from forms of co-optation and strategies to channel criticism by hegemonic actors, which limit its transformative potential.” With 20 years of research under her belt, it’s difficult to list all her research topics. Let’s at least mention policies for coastal adaptation to climate change, or sustainable food policies—two subjects dear to the city.

The most rewarding welcome possible

As a natural progression of her two-year involvement in the initiative on public policies for the transition, Laura Michel took over as director of MAK’IT, Montpellier’s Institute for Advanced Study (IEA), in 2025:“These IEAs are international programs designed to host top-tier international researchers and foster collaborative research efforts. In Montpellier, it specializes in the transition. My appointment comes as the strategic committee has decided to strengthen the social sciences and humanities and the theme of transition policies within the institute.”

The new director revealed a new feature in MAK’IT’s recruitment system, designed both to better highlight the presence of researchers within Montpellier’s scientific community and to offer them the most enriching experience possible:“We require a project developed jointly by the visiting researcher and the host unit.” The application process will be more rigorous, with host periods ranging from 3 to 6 months. But the effort is worth it for the new director, who wants to maintain high standards after 6 years of operation and having hosted 75 researchers from 37 different countries.