The aim of the (New)AGE project is to compare the various forms of governance of education based on policies of accountability that have been implemented in France and Quebec for the last fifteen years. The global purpose is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the processes and conditions that influence the institutionalization and enactment of these new forms of governance and to propose a theoretical model to account for their expected or unexpected effects. In order to do this we will analyse the dynamics of policies of accountability in each educational system and the various national and local translations of international doctrines such as Accountability and New Public Management. The research has three main objectives. 1.Understanding and comparing the trajectory of policies of accountability in each society and the forms of governance implemented in each educational system beyond the diffusion of the transnational models that inspired them. 2.Analysing and comparing at various levels (national, regional, local) the role of actors and organisations in the reception, the recontextualisation and the appropriation of these policies. This objective is related to our hypothesis concerning the fact that the legitimacy and concrete configurations of accountability policies are strongly dependant on these processes of mediation. 3.Analysing and comparing the effects of the various policy tools and instruments (indicators, plans, contracts) used for implementation and of the ways in which they are used on the effectiveness and the legitimacy of these new policies. These objectives require a specific and pluralist theoretical framework -that of a sociology of public action in education- which borrows theories and concepts from sociology (sociology of education, of regulation, of organisations, of professions and of knowledge), policy analysis in political science (research on policy tools, governance theories, State theory) and education (testing, evaluation and measurement in education, teachers' professional identities). The research is based on qualitative methods of analysis: semi-directive interviews with about 200 actors of the educational systems of the two countries, analysis of official documents and professional literature, exploitation of the dispatches from a press agency that specialises in the education sector (for France) and analysis of internal documents from various organisations. Some common tools will be defined to conduct the research such as common grids for interviews. The research will address several levels of analysis: international (through a literature review), national, regional and local. In each system, three areas have been selected for our field investigations (three “commissions scolaires” in Quebec and three “académies” in France) according to various criteria (institutional design, results and performances, degree of involvement in a policy of accountability, accessibility and feasibility of the research) to allow us to analyze different significant situations. In each area, a more in-depth analysis of a small number of schools will be conducted. The research will be conducted by five French and five Quebecois researchers from the CRIFPE (University of Montréal) and the OSC (CNRS, Sciences Po). Two technical assistants will also participate in the study conducted by the French team.

Alteration of host behavioural phenotypes is a widespread strategy of host exploitation among parasitic organisms. Understanding such strategies is important for applied aspects of parasitology as well as for evolutionary and ecological reasons. In this proposal, we wish to study, from proximate and ultimate mechanisms to ecological consequences, a type of manipulation that has been until now largely unexplored: the bodyguard manipulation. In certain braconid wasps, larvae exit from the host to pupate and subsequently induce their hosts to behave as true “bodyguards” displaying a range of defensive behaviours that protect cocoons against natural enemies. Mechanisms behind bodyguard manipulations are enigmatic since, a priori, the host and the parasitoid are not anymore physiologically interacting. Another intriguing aspect is that, at least in associations between parasitoids and ladybirds, a significant proportion of parasitized hosts apparently recover after the wasp exits the cocoon, and are even able to reproduce. Why do host species accept to behave as a bodyguard? Is the host truly manipulated or does it collaborate to alleviate fitness costs? What are the molecular, the neurobiological and the physiological mechanisms of this behavioural change? What are the new attributes and properties of individuals that recover a normal behaviour? These timely questions have remained largely unexplored by parasitologists. In this project, by an integration of biochemical, ecological and evolutionary approaches including modelling, we wish to contribute to partially fill this gap, using the wasp Dinocampus coccinellae (Braconidae) and the ladybird Coccinella septempunctata as a model system.

Oyster farming is more and more based on selective breeding programs, a practice that still requires antibiotic treatment of genitors in hatcheries. Our preliminary data suggest that antibiotic resistance is a common feature in environmental vibrios and that oysters could act as hotspots of horizontal gene transfers. Facing the therapeutic impasse of antibiotics, oyster aquaculture should consider the extraordinary resource of virulent phages for eco-friendly practices. It is, however, crucial to understand how phages can control pathogenic vibrios in a sustainable and safety manner. There is a critical need to identify the mechanisms of phage–vibrio interaction and to analyze how the evolution of phage resistance influences vibrio pathogenicity. By combining infection biology, microbial ecology and evolution, phage and bacterial genomics, the goal of this project, is to shed light on the origins, spread and evolution of antimicrobial resistance genes in environmental vibrios.

SyndiCARE is an innovative research project looking at the health of union representatives in three countries (France, Quebec and the UK). The topic came to the fore following the COVID pandemic and major social reforms in these three countries. The specialists brought together for this project were all able to observe the growing incidence of health problems among trade unionists, while trade unions are still largely powerless to deal with this issue, even though it is crucial to the way they operate, as it is to social democracy. From a scientific point of view, this topic addresses a major research gap in extant employment relations and sociology literature. The SyndiCARE project aims to fill this gap through ambitious comparative research, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, on three contrasting national systems of industrial relations, but exposed to the same trends. Two sectors will be the focus of particular attention: healthcare and transport. For each of these sectors, a threefold focus will be placed on 1/ the characteristics of industrial relations and their effects on the health of union representatives, 2/ the organisational variations and union strategies aimed at preventing and dealing with health issues for union representatives, and 3/ individual and subjective experiences of trade union activity. As well as producing original and unprecedented knowledge, one of the aims of the project is to equip trade unions with a better understanding of the health issues facing activists in order to strengthen their representation role.

Background Different countries have launched national reporting programs on hospitals based on quality and safety measurements. Beyond technical definitions, a key-issue is to ensure that an effective improvement is ensured due to the implementation of these measurements. However, the hypothesis that an indicator spontaneously induces such an improvement is not so clear. During the implementation phase can be considered a relation between the indicator, the hospital‘s organisation of work, and the actors who composed it. On this relation depends the real use of the indicator, and consequently its impact in terms of improvement. This project addresses this issue of the use of quality and safety measurements. Objectives The objectives are twofold: 1. Analysis of the indicator as a pertinent assessment system for improving quality 2. Analysis of the indicators‘ roles. The objective is to understand how the relation between quality and safety measurements, sensemaking given by professionals, and the organisation of work generates different roles. Methods The field of analysis is based on a French national program of indicators, Compaqh, which tests 43 indicators on a hospital panel (n= 44 à 100, depending on the topic). The methodology is qualitative, comprehensive, and comparative with a Canadian initiative. The research team is composed of representatives of two disciplinary fields: management science and psychology of work. The duration of the research is three years. Two types of seminars are considered: empirical (follow-up of the data collection process) and contributory (data analysis). Expected Results This project can produce a new knowledge on the relation between quality and safety measurements, sensemaking and organisation of work. It can also help to understand how measurements can construct an adequate representation of the organisation of work. Based on the results, operational recommendations could be developed in order to: - Identify quality and safety topics that can be assessed through measurement - Consider appropriate actions of quality improvement - Optimise the design of Quality and Safety indicators as well as the implantation phase