The Institut Natura e Teoria en Pirenèus has opened its 2024-2025 series of research residencies. Join us in a quiet natural environment in the middle of the Pyrenees to work on scientific and/or artistic projects!
The call is open to all profiles and disciplines. The goals of our program are to:
Previous residents include dozens of students and academics from many disciplines, whether ecologists, physicists, philologists, historians, food scientists or mathematicians, as well as private sector, amateur and freelance scientists and artists.
Write us directly at contact@intp.science if you have ideas for group retreats, events, workshops, etc. For individual residencies, please use the form below:
(Click here to open the form in a new tab)
- write an article, a book or a thesis
- think and discuss through a pivotal time (early career, change of topics, etc.)
- do research as a non-career scientist
Interactions: A stay will usually include at least one main opportunity (e.g. a discussion, presentation or showcase) for exchange with INTP members, other residents and possibly a larger public audience. Residents often self-organize for informal exchanges and other activities e.g. hikes, arts.
Example of activities include:
- mountain sports (hikes, climbing, via ferrata)
- classes (cooking, dance) with an extra fee for the instructor
- music or arts practice
- physical and mental exercise
Click on the calendar above for details of proposed activities.
- science jam, hackathon
- brainstorming & creativity training
- deconstructing or synthesizing a field of knowledge
Interactions: This is (co-)organized by INTP members who will be participating on a daily basis. These sessions are usually more demanding of participants and some may require preparatory work.
Please contact us directly (contact@intp.science) if you are interested in spending an extended period of time in our co-living and co-working space, whether for a sabbatical, a long writing or research project, a pivotal time in your career, to pursue a freelance research career, etc.
The length of a first stay will usually be from 3 to 14 days. Residents will be hosted in small cohorts in our campus in Surba, in a beautiful valley of the French Pyrenees: see all details here.
The INTP is a small-scale, self-funded and self-energized nonprofit, so we hope that residents will want to help us keep it running!
We offer different ways of contributing to our costs and needs, as we believe that it is important for research in science and art to be available to everyone, regardless of means and status. Their availability may vary depending on our own situation:
* Full financial contribution: 50 euros/day + food costs (possible group discounts) for visitors with access to funding
* Pay-what-you-can and/or volunteering -- You are invited to contribute according to your means and in different ways, with a recommended minimum of 10+10 euros/day for utilities and food, or equivalent help through volunteering time and skills, or mix of both.
This is not a rental, but help toward the running costs of the community, thus we are happy to share details of our financial situation in full transparency, and discuss on a case-by-case basis how you can participate.
NB: As a nonprofit, we can legally emit invoices and receive institutional payments.
Do not hesitate to contact us with questions or to discuss your situation.
Who else will be there: Usually 2-3 permanent residents and up to 4-6 temporary residents.
Bedrooms: We usually offer individual bedrooms (except in time of extraordinary attendance, e.g. group events). We provide bedsheets, you can bring your towel or we will provide one.
Main house: There are various spaces for working: an open space, one closed office for video calls, often another closed office for working (some rooms also have desks). Also communal spaces for meals if you want to spend them with us, and a garden sloping down to the river.
Meals: Most often we all eat together, with a spontaneous rotation in who cooks, and everyone contributes to food buying expenses (usually about 10 euros / person / day), and we are vegetarian. But you can eat anything you want, buy your own food and make your own meals if you prefer.
Coming here:
There is a train station 5 minutes away (by car) from INTP at Tarascon-sur-Ariège where we can pick you up. Some trains stop in Foix, 15 minutes away, where we can go if needed.
Weather: Most residencies are planned from mid-spring to mid-fall as the weather can be very variable later. The house is heated with wood stoves (and extra heating in some rooms) but it can still be cold at night. Should you come in the colder times, do bring warm outside and inside clothes, and slippers if you have any!
