Society
A university on the move
Deeply aware of its role in understanding the major issues of our time, UNIL devotes a large part of its research to human beings, their trajectories and ambitions.
Through its Faculty of Social and Political Sciences in particular, the University of Lausanne counts among its researchers many internationally renowned scientists in vast fields such as life courses, justice and sport.
A project for everyone
As one of the most complicated terms to grasp, society offers extremely broad prospects in terms of research, yet essential to the smooth running, or, at the very least, a fine-grained understanding of human behaviour, how it works as well as its institutions.
In addition to its Faculty of Social Sciences, UNIL has a number of interdisciplinary centres and institutes, all united around the many research questions underlying society.
Starting with the interdisciplinary life-course research centre LIVES, which grew out of the national research programme (NCCR), supported by the Confederation and bringing together the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva.
Institutions also feature widely in the spectrum of research conducted in Lausanne thanks to its Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP), housed within the Faculty of Law, Criminal Sciences and Public Administration (FDCA). It brings together legal specialists, forensic researchers and experts in the governance of international sporting institutions.
Themes
There are many themes that make up the core of research on society conducted at UNIL, including:
- Life courses, in particular with the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and the Lives Interdisciplinary Centre
- Justice, With a faculty devoted to clinical law in several fields, a School of Criminal Sciences and a joint Centre universitaire romand de médecine légale with the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva
- Public Policy, with the Institut des hautes études en administration publique
- Sports, with the Institut des sciences du sport de l'Université de Lausanne (ISSUL) as well as an interdisciplinary research platform on sport