About

Project

The primary objective of FRA MATH-AMERICAS is to be a coordination network that proposes joint actions among its constituent units:

• Develop a shared vision and implement actions to address the challenges facing mathematics in this period of technological, climate, and social transitions.
• Support activities carried out jointly by at least two constituent units in training, scientific outreach, and fundamental and applied research.
• Share experience, notably on relations with industry and on disseminating mathematics in secondary education institutions, particularly within the network of the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE).

We will also encourage, where administratively possible, delegation-based appointments of mathematicians from France, shared between several constituent units. Among the planned actions, we distinguish priority projects and secondary projects.

Priority Projects

Priority projects will be developed from the launch of the network and will involve all members.

Annual Joint Conference

The objective is to develop a culture of joint workshops and conferences devoted to specific topics, ranging from purely mathematical subjects to broader reflections on the role of mathematics in society and its impact on major global transitions (climate, technology, social, etc.). To implement this, we will organize one flagship event per year: the “CNRS–IRL Americas Joint Meeting.” These conferences will take one of the following two formats:

1. A thematic conference likely to interest an international scientific community. This format will allow the network of CNRS IRLs in the Americas to become known within a given community.
2. A multi-topic conference likely to interest the IRL members and their local partners. This format will promote better mutual understanding among the IRLs and encourage scientific collaborations between French and local members.

These conferences will be held in hybrid format to facilitate remote participation while keeping a low carbon footprint.

Promoting exchanges through short-term research visits

To strengthen scientific ties within the network, we will support short-term research visits, either between the international research laboratories located in the Americas or between these laboratories and CNRS laboratories in France. Typically lasting from two weeks to two months, these stays will allow researchers—especially early-career researchers and CNRS-affiliated personnel—to carry out collaborative work, share expertise, and build lasting academic relationships, thereby reinforcing the network’s coherence and impact.

Support for the employment and mobility of early-career researchers

In a context—affecting early-career mathematicians in the Americas in particular—of a sharp decline in postdoctoral opportunities in the United States, it is essential to propose solutions. Opportunities via European Commission calls will be explored. Our objective is:

1. To form a consortium of French universities to respond to the COFUND call. The universities would recruit postdoctoral researchers, allowing them to spend a significant share of their fellowship in one of our international laboratories. The network would thus present itself to the European Commission as having sufficient critical mass to ensure high-quality recruitment and an attractive mobility offer outside Europe.
2. To encourage applications to the Global Fellowship program, with part of the postdoctoral stay carried out in one of our international laboratories.
3. To use the tools of the various IRLs within the Federation to better organize the travel of early-career researchers in the Americas.

A mailing list of PhD and postdoctoral position announcements has already been created. It circulates weekly offers from our five countries and had, in early May 2025, one hundred and eleven subscribers less than a month after its creation.

Secondary Projects

Secondary projects are not lesser in importance; they are significant projects that we plan to implement once the structure is well established and depending on the available budget.

Building thematic research teams

The Federation will foster the emergence of working teams within it to address major scientific, industrial, or public policy challenges that require a critical mass of researchers. The association of international laboratories and their integration within the French research ecosystem provides a powerful tool to propose solutions to multi- and transdisciplinary problems in which mathematics plays a central role. The first conference will be an opportunity to develop a joint roadmap on themes linking mathematics and artificial intelligence.

Several concrete ideas are already under discussion, such as the ocean research project between PIMS and CMM, which could benefit from upcoming calls—for example, a joint CNRS-Biology and CNRS-Mathematics call—to work on understanding problems of the Pacific Ocean, from Canada to Antarctica.

Supporting the mobility of women in mathematics

Mobility in mathematics is essential, both for the advancement of the discipline (by fostering the circulation of ideas) and for individual researchers (through the development of scientific networks).

A 2015 study¹ analyzes gender trends in temporary international research stays. The authors show that, although women appear more internationally mobile than men, their stays are less frequent, occur at earlier ages and career stages, are shorter in duration, and their destinations are geographically closer to their country of origin.

Our network could leverage its diversity to develop a program enabling mid-career women to spend a total of one month in one or two international laboratories in the Americas.

Support network for research, training, and scientific-outreach activities in the Americas.

We seek to serve as a support network for the activities of the community of the Americas, especially the South, and in particular for UMALCA’s actions, to promote access to and the improvement of mathematics across the continent. As a consortium, we will be active participants in organizing schools that promote mathematics. An important action will be to explore how other actors can officially join this network, such as units in the French Antilles, the University of São Paulo, and research units active in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina.

Communication and Visibility

We will develop shared communication tools to highlight the international mathematics laboratories of the Americas and their parent institutions. This will involve producing and disseminating each year a relatively short document presenting each laboratory in general terms and briefly summarizing the activities of the past year.

Governance

The federation operates according to a model established by CNRS. A central administrative unit is based at a center among the founding international research laboratories (IRLs), led by the Director of the federation.

MATHAM currently has a director and a deputy director, ensuring efficient governance. A council comprised of all directors of the member IRLs defines the federation’s operating guidelines, while the Director and Deputy Director are responsible for their implementation.

This structure facilitates the federation's geographic reach and administrative coordination, maintaining strong communication with CNRS in France and with the directors of the IRLs across the Americas.

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