The Centre - Urbanisation Culture Société (UCS) is part of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and directed by Mrs. Claire Poitras. The Centre houses thirty-seven research professors from over  a dozen different social science disciplines.  It also offers degree-granting programs at the master’s and Ph.D. level and welcomes post-doctoral scholars.

 

Centre - Urbanisation Culture Société:

 

Research at INRS is distinctive in various respects: partnerships with public and private agencies; a parallel focus on fundamental and applied research; research objectives developed in interaction with users; interdisciplinarity; hands-on, team-based training for young scholars. Social relevance is a key motivating factor for all researchers at the Centre. This focus on applied research and on relevance to the wider community stems from INRS’s general mission, which emphasizes the importance of developing both fundamental and applied research. The Centre’s mission statement also specifies that its research must have relevance for Québec’s economic, social and cultural development and foster the transfer of knowledge in all sectors where INRS is active. The UCS Centre’s multidisciplinary approach facilitates analysis of the concrete and often complex problems and issues characteristic of the world in which we live.

 

Centre - Urbanisation Culture Société is at the crossroads of numerous groups and research clusters, together with scholars from other institutions and various milieus, at both the national and international levels, notably with developing countries. In particular, the Centre includes: