CRC

The Centre for research on Risks and Crises (CRC) was established in January 2008, with the aim of strengthening research and training in the field of risk prevention and crisis management at Mines Paris/ PSL.

As such, the CRC initiated the creation, in 2003, of the specialised PhD programme in the Science and Engineering of At-risk Activities (Sciences et génie des activités à risques; SGAR) within the Engineering Sciences doctoral school (SMI, ED No. 432). The same year, it was a key player in the creation of Preventeo, a company that develops and sells risk management software. In 2006, CRC was the first Centre within Mines Paris to launch a teaching and research Chair on the topic of Resilience and Industrial Safety. The CRC animates the Advanced Master’s Degree in Risks and Crises in Industry.

CRC is part of the Department of Economics, Management and Society (EMS) at Mines Paris. It is also associated with the CARNOT M.I.N.E.S. Institute.

The CRC conducts interdisciplinary research that lies at the crossroads of human and social sciences and engineering sciences. To this end, it draws upon, links and integrates the following disciplines: anthropology, law, ergonomics, geography, management, history of science and technology, forensics, psychology, cognitive and information sciences, and engineering sciences.

Consistent with the strategy of Mines Paris and its contracted objectives, CRC has three missions:

• Partnership-oriented research, in close collaboration with socioeconomic actors; principally companies in the energy (nuclear, oil and gas) and transport sectors. The aim is to produce models and engineering solutions that provide support for decision-making.
• Research training for PhD, Master’s level, and engineering students.
• The dissemination and exploitation of the results of research in the form of publications, national and international conferences, seminars, advanced methodological prototypes and software, participation in TV and/ or radio broadcasts, etc.

The CRC is resolutely and actively focused on international cooperation. Since 2012, it has been a major player in the DEANS Forum on Resilience Engineering, which regularly brings together the universities of Berkeley, Tokyo, Imperial College London, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Since 2009, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the form of the team led by Professor Nancy Leveson, has welcomed 5 of CRC’s doctoral students. Since 2014, it has worked closely with the University of Tokyo, notably its departments of atomic engineering and sociology. Since 2016, there has been a research agreement in place with NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation. Finally, and also since 2016, it has worked with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Wuppertal in the framework of a Franco–German ANR.

In France, the CRC is actively working within the University of the Cote d’Azur (UCA). Cooperation with UCA takes the form of anthropology and management sciences labs, and the Côte d’Azur Observatory. Finally, since 2009, the Centre has been involved in the MAGIS research group (geomatics research), and works closely in the field of safety and maritime security with the French Naval Academy.

In 2022, the team was broken down as follows:

• A teaching and research team consisting of 9 lecturer–researchers.
• 1 IT Engineer
• 4 PhD students.
• Myriam Lavigne-Perrault is our administrative manager. She supports the teaching and research team in monitoring ongoing collaborative projects, managing the SGAR and our Advanced Master’s Degreeprogrammes, and facilitating CRC’s communication activities.

Lecturer–researchers

• Didier Delaitre
• Franck Guarnieri, CRC Director
• Justin Larouzée
• Aldo Napoli
• Aurélien Portelli, head of the Advanced Master’s Degree Risks and Crises in Industry.
• Eric Rigaud, Head of the SGAR doctoral programme
• Georges-André Silber
• Sébastien Travadel
• Enrico Zio

IT Engineer

• Samuel Olampi

PhD students

• Laurentiu Neagu
• Ambroise Renaud
• Andrei Stanescu
• Adelin Taddei

In 2017, the CRC finalized a five-year contract, at the heart of which lies a strategic programme entitled “Safe Energies and Transport”. The entire CRC research team (lecturers, research associates, post-doctoral researchers and doctoral students) are involved in this programme. It covers three industrial sectors (nuclear, oil and gas and renewable energies), and three transport sectors (maritime, land and air).

Three, interrelated research axes, each the responsibility of a facilitator/coordinator, structure the programme:

• Professionalisation of safety (Aurélien Portelli): this axis is structured according to three objectives. The first is to study the function of imaginary meanings and the beliefs they underlie in the institutionalization of professions related to risk prevention and in safety training. The second objective is to design learning devices aimed at reinforcing the reflexive competence of safety professionals, and to study the transfer of tools and methods through change management. The third objective concerns the design and development of Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). The research carried out focuses on different application fields: radiation protection, non-destructive testing, auditing and inspection, remote operation, and work accidents.
• Safety and security of the maritimisation of energy (Aldo Napoli): this axis studies the vulnerability and resilience of socio-technical systems operating in the maritime environment, which are exposed to malevolent acts, operational failure and natural hazards. The aim is to design and develop advanced decision support models and prototypes that draw upon software engineering methods, big data and artificial intelligence, to guide decision-makers in detecting hazards, and planning and implementing appropriate responses.
• Engineering in Extreme Situations (Sébastien Travadel): this axis covers research that lies at the crossroads of two major concepts: engineering, on the one hand, as a technical response to a social demand; and the extreme situation, on the other hand, characteristic of taking action when faced with the risk of irreversible damage to individuals, groups or even whole societies. Work focuses on the reasoning, representations, modes of action and decisions taken by teams of engineers who are required to find technical responses to unacceptable threats to society.

This strategic program guides the Centre’s academic partnerships in France, and its bids for national (ANR, ADEME, Fonds Unique Interministériel) and international (H2020, Berkeley Fund France, etc.) funding, as well as numerous industrial collaborations.

All of CRC’s academic and technical publications are available from HAL Mines.

Each year, the CRC recruits students for its research programmes and advanced courses:

• Doctoral candidates are invited to submit a detailed CV to the Head of the doctoral programme.
• Post-doctoral students should submit a detailed CV to theCRC Director
• Master’s students should send their application and a detailed CV to theCRC administrative assistant.