1. summaries
Summaries are important if we wish to communicate with a wide audience about different issues, existing research methods and the models developed. The results of this work could be published officially by the CNRS or by a journal such as Maths In Action.
2. intensive working group programme for young researchers
The aim of each working group, comprising mainly young researchers, will be to produce a deliverable such as summaries on a clearly defined multidisciplinary MPE subject. These intensive work groups could be officially located at the CIRM or the IHP. The CEMRACS (each year at CIRM) already organise sessions of this type but have difficulties in finding long-term financing.
3. bilateral chairs
Propose a call for candidates for bilateral chairs for two teacher-researchers or researchers recognised in their respective disciplines who wish to make a long-term commitment to research in connection with MPE work, requiring expertise in two fields. In this context, we should not forget the availability of ERC synergy grants, the aim of which is to encourage the development of interdisciplinary groups. These calls for candidates should be intensified and continued at both the French and European level. In addition, the MPE theme and the involvement of several disciplines should be added as criteria for eligibility.
4. fundamental and applied collaborative projects
Issue calls for candidates for MPE projects linking fundamental and applied research. These thinktanks must bring together researchers working on a precise subject covering the following aspects: modelling, mathematical analysis, numerical simulation. Teamwork will have to identify issues and bring together communities in the broad sense of the term. It will also have to reflect on the passage from algorithms based on simple codes to operational codes.
5. project centres
Substantial financing structures must be put in place to officially create multidisciplinary teams and laboratories (with or without premises). These important projects require long-term financing, at least 2 x 5 years. It is worth pointing out that in other countries institutes of this kind already exist, such as the Santa Fe Institute. In France, however, the interesting initiatives that do exist are experiencing numerous difficulties in long-term financing and do not cover all the MPE topics.
6. MPE skills network
Propose a call for applications to promote skills networks related to the MPE theme, with the aim being to encourage contact between mathematicians and other disciplines. The creation of multidisciplinary Research and Training Groups (GdRs), an initiative to be encouraged, requires substantial financial means to organise research around a particular MPE theme. It should be noted that some multidisciplinary Research and Training Groups already exist (see the list on the website mathsinterre.fr) and that the ANR, the RNSC and the AMIES also offer similar possibilities, but without a clearly stated theme.
7. nascent collaborative MPE projects
These calls for applications must enable multidisciplinary collaborative projects to be set up, focussing on MPE topics and supported by several tens of thousands of euros funding over a period of 4 or 5 years. These invitations for applications must be carefully defined and should give priority to new collaborative projects, such as the interaction of mathematicians and theoretical physicists in oceanography-meteorology. The PEPS at the CNRS level provide one possibility, but their duration is too short.