Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 was founded in the 13th century and is one of the oldest European universities. It is specialized in art, social sciences and humanities. Higher education and research actors, together with local and regional authorities, work together to provide students with a first-class study environment and opportunities for personal development, creativity, entrepreneurship and professional affirmation. In this favorable context, Université Paul-Valéry specialized in literature, languages, art, social sciences and humanities, works with determination and innovation. Its growing involvement in European research programs has also led to the award of European scholarships such as ERC, Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship and Erasmus + Strategic Partnerships. UPVM has strong experience in the field of international activities: it is involved in regional, national and European networks.

The Faculty of Social Sciences – UFR5 is a teaching and research component of the UPVM whose fields of study and intervention are supported by four disciplinary departments: Psychology, Sociology, Ethnology and Health Sciences. The IRSA-CRI unit aims to explore theoretically and empirically all the areas of application of the social imaginary of the socio-anthropological tradition (the symbolic and current mechanisms in their dimension as much as in their actualization of society: environment, metropolitan legends, media, daily life, contemporary fictions, youth culture, urbanity, ideologies and relations with the norms and values ​​of the modern and postmodern condition), the new practices of shared work and cooperation. The research unit also focuses on the study of new information and communication technologies.