IHES, at the avant-garde of science - IHES

Officially launched in November 2018, the third fundraising campaign, "IHES, at the avant-garde of science", focuses on three areas: "People, Place, Perpetuity”.

Making a gift

Presidents of the campaign

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé

Director and CEO of BNP Paribas, Co-chairman of the IHES campaign committee


Jean-Laurent BONNAFE, administrateur-directeur-général du groupe BNP Paribas.Supporting fundamental research means above all investing over the long term. Geopositioning, big data, machine learning: today’s innovations are born out of yesterday’s theoretical advances. In banking, whether we are predicting the behavior of financial markets, managing risks for our clients and our company, or defining protocols to ensure the security of payments and data, our activities are based on numerous innovations rooted in mathematics and theoretical physics.

Mathematics teaches rigor, the importance of doubting, and creativity. Both in the academic world and in industry, we need minds forged by this rigorous discipline.

Supporting IHES means investing in this school of knowledge and sustainably supporting the progress on which our collective future relies.

Philippe Camus

Senior advisor at Evercore, Chairman of the Board of Aptamir, Co-chairman of the IHES campaign committee



Philippe CamusI have been involved with IHES for many years, after having had the pleasure of discovering the Institute thanks to Jean-Pierre Bourguignon and André Lévy-Lang. I am committed to supporting this unique institution, whose international character and deep roots in the French research landscape I cherish and deeply appreciate.

Contributing to IHES is for me a way of supporting advances in fundamental research in mathematics and physics, both of which fascinate me and are essential to the progress of society.

I particularly enjoy being a member of the Cercle des Mécènes, which was created 5 years ago and brings together a community of science enthusiasts around events that become great opportunities for discussion. The Cercle des Mécènes allows me to meet top-notch experts in their scientific field and to discover some of the research that they are currently carrying forward.

If you would like to support us and have a project in mind…

Contact Claire Lenz, Director of Development and Communications
+33 1 60 92 66 67 –
claire.lenz@ihes.fr

Making a gift

  • Supporting the permanent professors and the Director

    The Institute's permanent professors are world top-level researchers and they constitute the Institute's DNA. Our aim is no increase the number of positions for permanent professors from 6 to 8, something unprecedented since the 1970's.

  • Hiring postdocs

    Increasing the number of post-doctoral positions remains a priority of IHES’ scientific programme and, in the past five years, the Institute has been very active on that front.

  • Triennial chairs

    The Institute has created new triennial chairs for visiting professors, so that they can benefit from more favourable conditions, such as the possibility of inviting some of their collaborators.

  • Creating junior positions

    Always in search of new talents, IHES wants to create junior positions in order to recruit early career researchers and provide them with the best working conditions.

  • Reinforcing the visiting programme

    About 200 researchers from all over the world come to IHES every year via our general visitor programme.

  • L’Ormaille

    With its 61 housing units, the residence “L’Ormaille” is a fundamental asset for IHES in welcoming visiting professors from all over the world, sometimes with their families.

  • Bois-Marie

    The Bois-Marie site houses both scientific activity and support services. Facilities include individual offices, meeting rooms, library, lecture halls, scientific secretariat; the site must continue to provide researchers with optimal working conditions.
  • The strategy of providing IHES with endowed funds to secure its financial future is more important than ever. Endowments currently finance 18% of the budget, a very significant success in the French context, but IHES is determined to go further in its quest for independence.

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