Submit a project to the Mobile Lives Forum
The Mobile Lives Forum is using the humanities, social sciences and arts to prepare for the transition towards attractive, sustainable lifestyles from a mobility perspective. To do this, it funds projects as part of its research program:
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Area 1 : Understanding how people organize and arrange their lifestyles in space and time through travel and their use of information and communication technologies (digital mobility).
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Area 2 : Identify and implement policies that encourage the transition towards attractive, sustainable lifestyles.
We’re looking for innovative, useful, forward-thinking research projects.
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We are looking for socially useful projects that explore important dimensions of contemporary lifestyles from a mobility standpoint and help shed light on the challenge of transitioning towards desirable, sustainable lifestyles, both now and in the future.
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We prefer topics that are not necessarily considered in traditional academic fields, which is why we typically do not finance academic dissertations that can be funded by universities.
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Projects may be rooted in academic disciplines (geography, sociology, history, management, etc.) or be multi-disciplinary, and be based on qualitative/quantitative or participative methods (research-action) in a local, national, international or comparative perspective
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These disciplines may be combined with the arts, e.g. photography, video, audio recordings, painting, or other forms of expression.
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They may relate to experiments as part of the Area 2 of the program
Our involvement
We are deeply involved in the discussions of research and/or artistic projects, which we enjoy co-building with the authors, be it with regard to the topic itself, the methods used or how the value of project is enhanced through dissemination and public engagement. (See "Enhancing the value of the research" below).
Provision of research findings and data
Once the research has been concluded, we will publish the results on our website. Our goal is to make the quantitative/qualitative data and metadata produced (interviews, etc.) available to the entire scientific community.
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Rigor and scientific transparency… …so as to promote the scientific nature of the research and discussions as regards the administration of evidence.
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Re-use of data and public utility… …likewise to facilitate the use of research projects other than those for which the data was originally produced. We want to make their re-use possible. This is in line with the European program Es Fri and French projects headed by the CNRS’s Institute of Human and Social Sciences, such as Be Quali).
Enhancing the value of the research
In addition to the sharing of research findings, the Forum strongly encourages their wider dissemination through media, including books, films, comic books, photos, press kits, etc. tailored to the stakeholders (urban planning/transportation professionals, businesses, elected officials, the general public, etc.), in language that is accessible to them.
4 key themes for the next 3 years:
Leisure and tourism
How is mobility used to organize tourism and leisure? What will they be like in the future, given current climate issues and modern aspirations? Which transition policies should be implemented ?
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How will travel be used in conjunction with digital mobility, and with what impact on people and human relationships, lifestyles and living situations? What should be the transition policies for a liveable future?
Work
Work structures the pace of people's lifestyles. It is a key dimension for scheduling activities as far as mobility is concerned. Companies do not sufficiently consider the spatial dimension of work-related mobility and its social and environmental consequences (see the Employees' ideal mobility as seen by companies survey). How can we develop future mobility to promote attractive, sustainable lifestyles? What transition policies should be implemented (geographic distribution of activities, schedule adjustments, work organization, distance to get to work, work spaces, etc.)
Slow living and proximity
The Aspirations Survey (see the Aspirations relative to mobility and lifestyles survey) conducted by the Forum in six Western countries revealed strong aspirations for the slow living and - to a lesser but nonetheless important extent - local lifestyles. However, a clear understanding of what this means and the changes they necessitate remain largely overlooked. What would be the most attractive lifestyles from a slow living/local standpoint? How can they become a reality ?
How to submit your project?
Please send your proposals (in French or English) to: christophe.gay@sncf.fr et à sylvie.landrieve@sncf.fr
Proposals in English should also be sent to: jcaletrio@gmail.com
- Mobility
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For the Mobile Lives Forum, mobility is understood as the process of how individuals travel across distances in order to deploy through time and space the activities that make up their lifestyles. These travel practices are embedded in socio-technical systems, produced by transport and communication industries and techniques, and by normative discourses on these practices, with considerable social, environmental and spatial impacts.
