As part of the
PALIMPSEST project —funded by the University of Caen Normandy’s
CAESAR program— a full-time, fixed-term research position is available, running from September 1, 2027, to August 29, 2028. Project Name:
PALIMPSEST (Science as a Palimpsest: Traces, Annotations, and Editorial Frameworks in the Digital Construction of Scholarly Memory) Funding:
CAESAR / UNICAEN (ANR / Normandy Region) Scientific Lead: Christophe Maneuvrier (MRSH – Caen) Postdoctoral Scientific Supervisor: Vassili Rivron (CERREV / UNICAEN) Consortium: The consortium draws on over twenty years of experience.
It brings together researchers and engineers from seven units at the University of Caen Normandy, covering fields such as history and textual studies (CRAHAM), literary studies (LASLAR), sociology and anthropology (CERREV), digital sciences (GREYC), scholarly publishing and dissemination (Métopes, PUC), and data structuring and documentation systems (PDN).
Project Summary (PALIMPSEST): The humanities and social sciences rely heavily on mechanisms of memory: traces, sources, archives, documents, and references serve as essential mediations for producing knowledge about the past and stabilizing scholarly understanding.
Historically, scholarly publishing has played a central role in this "economy of memory"—establishing sources, organizing their interpretation, and creating the forms of dissemination that ensure the transmission and citation of knowledge.
The development of digital methods is transforming these processes.
Practices related to publishing, annotation, referencing, and dissemination rely on technical infrastructures and standards —such as markup, metadata, and digital editorial workflows— that reshape the production and circulation of knowledge.
This project aims to analyze scholarly publishing as a mechanism for scientific memory, examining how digital environments alter the creation, stabilization, and transmission of scholarly records.
By combining historical studies, conceptual analysis, and sociological inquiry, this project seeks to provide a reflexive analysis of scholarly publishing as an infrastructure of memory, highlighting the foundational role that tools, standards, and editorial practices play in the production and transmission of scientific knowledge.
Missions The successful candidate will be tasked with studying the development and current functioning of the socio-technical environment at the Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines (House for Research in the Humanities) and the teams involved in digital scientific production and publishing —notably the Pôle Document Numérique (Digital Document Center) and the Presses Universitaires de Caen (Caen University Press).
An ethnographic study and a social history of digital practices will be conducted to analyze the unique nature of this configuration, encompassing both professional trajectories and the underlying hardware and software infrastructures.
The objective is to understand how "the digital" has emerged as a space defined by specific mandates and opportunities—factors that shape national and local policies, while also influencing disciplinary trajectories and scientific careers.
In collaboration with their scientific supervisor, the post-doctoral researcher will be responsible for: - contributing to the state-of-the-art review;
- conducting documentary research (covering funding history, the implementation and dissemination of tools, and an analysis of publications), biographical interviews, and a localized ethnography of digital usage and scientific cooperation networks —adopting an approach akin to "laboratory ethnography";
- analyzing and interpreting the collected data.
Participate in the drafting of a report and scientific publications, as well as in one or more scientific events, including a dissemination conference.
Employment Conditions Period:September 1, 2027, to August 29, 2028, inclusive.
Affiliated Unit:
CERREV (Research Center for Risks and Vulnerabilities – UR 3918).
Work location: University of Caen Normandy, Campus I, Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines (Humanities Research Center).
On-site presence is required;
an office will be provided.
Employment status: Category A;
position: contract-based researcher.
Estimated net monthly salary: starting from €2,069 (varies based on career stage).
Travel expenses will be covered if the successful candidate is recruited from abroad.
Supervision:Vassili Rivron (Associate Professor,
CERREV / UNICAEN).