Labex ITTEM expands internationally

Labex ITTEM is one of the world’s leading mountain resource centers in the humanities and social sciences. It maintains numerous links with foreign organizations and researchers, throughout the Alpine arc and beyond. Several of the research projects it supports have an international dimension, on a variety of themes: diversification of ski resorts, the “observatory” role of high mountain refuges, glacier tourism sites and climate change, mountain bike tourism, etc. Since this year, Labex ITTEM has had an international cooperation department headed by Raffaella Balzarini, which helps to reinforce the deployment of its actions and the visibility of its work abroad.

As part of the French presidency of the European Union’s Strategy for the Alpine Region (Suera), and as part of its academic expertise, Labex participates in various working groups on the themes of research and innovation and mountain tourism. In particular, it is involved in setting up an international Master’s degree dedicated to alpine tourism, in partnership with universities in several countries. Beyond the Suera framework, Labex ITTEM is expanding its academic network by forging links with universities in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and the United States.

On a more operational level, in autumn 2021 Labex ITTEM will organize two conferences in Switzerland in partnership with the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur la montagne(Cirm), one of which is scheduled to take place as part of the ^19th Swiss geoscience meeting in Geneva. The aim of these meetings will be to assess the actions and research carried out jointly in the Alpine arc by the academic world and local players.

Labex also takes part in several international events. On May 6, at the 16th Sageo conference – a major event in the world of geomatics and spatial analysis – the Refuges sentinelles project presented the organization and use of data collected from mountain refuges to study changes in professional, tourist and sporting practices(see poster and article). This project will be presented again to an audience of French and foreign mountaineers on June 26 at the Cosmiques refuge, at an altitude of 3,613 metres, as part of the festivities to mark the 200th anniversary of the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. Mélanie Marcuzzi, refuge warden, is one of the scientists behind Refuges sentinelles.

Last but not least, Labex ITTEM’s website will be available in English by the summer, to provide the general public and foreign scientists with greater visibility of its activities.

Watch the presentation of the Refuges Sentinelles project at the Sageo conference (May 2021) :