The « Risc » (Relais d'Information sur les Sciences de la Cognition) was created to help students, researchers and all the people involved in the different fields of cognitive science.
We offer a range of services to inform the cognitive science community and encourage scientific cooperation in the community.
- A daily updated website where we post national and international information on cognitive science: seminars, colloquia, specialized publications.
- A book and video library dedicated to cognitive science: 113 DVD and 390 movies available online, 1103 books, more than 600 master's essays and 200 PhDs (+ a few HDR - Habilitation à diriger des recherches). Most of them can be borrowed.
- Databases and directories on cognitive science: researchers, laboratories, linguists, and possibilities for study.
- Free subscription lists: "les échos du Risc", current event related to cognitive science; weekly seminar program in France and abroad; information in linguistics.
- Meeting rooms (from 10 to 200 seats) are available in the center of Paris to facilitate your scientific meetings; we can book them for you. You can contact us if you have questions about this service or you can fill in the booking form online.
- Logistic services: we can advise and help you on logistics and communication aspects of scientific events you organize in France. Call us: +33(0)1 44 32 26 75.

The Risc is open from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm, from Monday to Friday.
We are located in the heart of Paris, near metro Place Monge : Ecole Normale Supérieure, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris.


Team:

The team is composed of 5 persons: Jean Lorenceau (DR CNRS, UPR 640, CHU Salpêtrière) assisté de Naïma Ghaffari (01 44 32 26 75), Claire Carpentier (01 44 32 29 51), Luc Heintze (01 44 32 26 78), Nicolas Larrousse (01 44 32 29 51).
An advisory scientific committee, composed of researchers in different fields of cognitive science orients our projects.

The Risc was created in 1992 at the initiative of the interdisciplinary program Cogniscience (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and then supported by the cognitive science GIS (Groupe d'Intérêt Scientifique) : CNRS, CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique), INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique), INRETS (Institut National de REcherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité), MENRT (Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de la recherche et de la technologie).

The cognitive science community in France is geographically and thematically scattered: people work in public scientific institutions, higher education institutes, universities, etc., and they come from different fields. Many of them belong to scientific networks:
- RESCIF (Réseau de Sciences Cognitives d'Ile-de-France)
- Pôle Rhône-Alpes (Lyon, Grenoble, Suisse) de sciences cognitives
- PRESCOT (Programme de Recherche en Sciences Cognitives de Toulouse)
- CogniSud Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)
- CogniEst (Dijon, Metz, Nancy, Reims, Strasbourg, Lille, Mulhouse and Luxembourg)

The Risc was created to fulfill the needs for information within this community (workshops, seminars, colloquia, information for students) and to gather and spread information among the laboratories.

In 2002, the Risc became a service unit of the CNRS (UMS 2551, then UMS 3332 - Unité mixte de service). It depends on INSB Institute of the CNRS and works with the following partners: Ecole normale supérieure and Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5

The Risc's activities are funded by both the CNRS and its external partners.