International CooperationCSMC and École Pratique des Hautes Études Formalise Collaboration

27 March 2026

Photo: École Pratique des Hautes Études

The CSMC and the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), a constituent college of Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), have long maintained close academic ties. With the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, this partnership has now been placed on a formal and sustainable foundation.

EPHE-PSL is a leading French institution in research and higher education, with particular strengths in historical, philological, and cultural studies. It is internationally recognised for its work on manuscript cultures, textual traditions, and historical artefacts, and for its commitment to interdisciplinary research in the humanities.

The new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims to further strengthen cooperation between CSMC and EPHE-PSL. It provides a framework for joint research projects, seminars, conferences, workshops, and summer schools, and supports mobility for early-career researchers at both the postgraduate and postdoctoral levels. The agreement also encourages collaborative publications and shared approaches to data management.

The relationship between the two institutions is already well established. Notable examples include the exchange of researchers such as Nuria de Castilla, EPHE-PSL researcher and member of the CSMC, and Andréas Stauder, who will join the CSMC as a Petra Kappert Fellow in May 2026. A major milestone in their cooperation was the international conference ‘The Pen, the Page, the Book. Comparative Studies in Manuscript Cultures’, held in October 2022 at San Lorenzo de El Escorial in honour of François Déroche and organised by Nuria de Castilla and Michael Friedrich.

With the signing of the MoU, this long-standing partnership enters a new phase. The agreement formalises collaboration for an initial period of five years, with the possibility of renewal, ensuring continued exchange and joint research in the years ahead.