A series of conferences dedicated to human and social sciences at Institut Imagine

One of the missions of Institut Imagine is to broaden the horizons of research and to expand the field of knowledge in order to bring solutions to patients and their families as quickly as possible. As part of its "Human and Social Sciences and the Institute's societal role" program, Institut Imagine is launching a series of conferences with philosophers, artists, writers and actors from the human and social sciences. The aim is to examine the global consequences of genetic diseases and how to live better with the disease.

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Imagine Institute

Humanity, genetics, research and care: the Human and Social Sciences program of Institut Imagine

Genetic diseases have repercussions well beyond the scientific and medical aspects, and affect the entire family sphere. They open up a whole field of questions about the place of sick people in our societies, the means to be implemented to live better with the disease, together, with the family and well beyond.

"The idea of this program is to meet and bring together different worlds, psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, linguists, designers, researchers and doctors, in order to understand the real life of families and contribute to improving it and living better with the disease. As a crossroads of multi-professional and multi-disciplinary expertise in the fields of human and social sciences and rare diseases, the Imagine Institute maximizes the impact of this cross-fertilization" - Dr Sandrine Marlin and Laure Boquet

The program is co-directed by Laure Boquet, General Delegate of Institut Imagine, and Dr Sandrine Marlin, physician and researcher. Its steering committee is composed of representatives of reference centers and rare disease networks, patient associations, and the rare disease expertise platform of the Hôpital Necker-Enfants malades AP-HP.

Conferences on various themes

The first conference in the cycle was held in early April 2022. The program will be rolled out throughout the year, with a conference every 2 to 3 months. You can find the program soon on this page.

"Living in real time" - Frédéric Worms and Béatrice Childs

This first conference is dedicated to the book published by Frédéric Worms " Vivre en temps réel " (Bayard, 2021) : when a serious and real event becomes possibly unbearable collectively and for each person, beyond a worrying diagnosis, how can we propose new resources to live our lives in real time ? How can we reconcile the immediate emergency with the other emergencies of our lives? If this is the time of all dangers, it is also the time of all sharing. A risk and an opportunity at the same time?

The conference questions in particular:

  • The link between the real times of our lives
  • Our altered relationship to time during a collective event such as the Covid-19 pandemic
  • The day-to-day missions of researchers and caregivers at the Imagine Institute, who take care of both patients who are going through acute episodes and patients whose disease has become chronic
  • Our relationship with time, for each of us and for all of us, together

The conference is moderated by:

  • Frédéric Worms, professor of contemporary philosophy, director of the International Center for the Study of Contemporary French Philosophy, member of the National Consultative Ethics Committee, and director of the École Normale Supérieure.
  • Béatrice Childs, psychoanalyst and member of the "Societal Role of the Imagine Institute" program