Aging, fertility, parenting in diverse family situations, social inequalities, migration, gender, violence—these topics and others studied by INED researchers resonate with major contemporary issues at the center of societal debate. Our scientists interact continuously with public policymakers, the media, and citizens.
Providing useful information to help guide public debates in France
INED provides expertise to public policymakers.
In order for our research studies on families, health, and education, among other major issues, to be of assistance to public decisionmakers as they design policy, INED communicates with French authorities, administrations, and elected officials in the following specific way:
INED researchers are regularly called upon to provide expertise in parliamentary hearings as well as to minister’s offices, ministry departments, and to such authorities as the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE); the Retirement System Orientation Council (COR); the High Council on the Family, Childhood, and Aging (HCFEA); and the country’s Rights Defender, among others.
Every year, INED transmits its report on the demographic situation in France to public administrations and members of parliament.
INED keeps the media informed on the latest advances in population sciences
INED researchers are available on a daily basis to answer questions from the media on issues related to demographic issues and problematics.
Every month, INED issues press communiqués and social media posts to inform journalists in all media—audiovisual, written, web—of the latest research findings.
INED is also a partner of The Conversation media outlet, where its scientists write about their research studies in connection with a given current issue. And the Institute belongs to the French Association of Science Journalists.
Visit our press room.
Making research findings accessible
INED puts the greatest possible number of our researchers’ publications on open access in our open archive, ArchINED, while data from survey projects can be accessed in our research data catalog, Data.INED. Making this material as fully available as possible is an integral component of the Institute’s open science policy.
The readership for a considerable part of the materials released by INED Publications is relatively informed or particularly curious (teachers, students, media outlets, associations and advocacy groups, policymakers, and others). Meanwhile, our 4-page bulletin Population & Societies (on open access French and English) presents and discusses a new subject every month and is designed for the public at large.
Books in the “Questions de Population” [Population Questions] series handle current problematics while those in the “Grandes Enquêtes” [Major Surveys] collection constitute reference scientific material for public debates.
To realize audiovisual European Memories of the Goulag and make it available online, INED Publications used an innovative digital editorial format that facilitates consultation for both expert and less informed users.
Helping to diffuse scientific culture and develop critical thinking among the general public
A website designed for the public at large
Files on particular topics, videos, animated materials, infographics, precise, succinct analyses of findings—the INED website aims to make its research understandable and useful to the widest audience possible. Over 3 million connections to our website in 2025!
Our “All about Population” content section is a real source of knowledge on population science.
A special Teaching Resources section for teachers and high school students
In the INED Teaching Resources section of the website [french only], teachers can find precious resources for preparing their classes and secondary school students can get more detailed information on their particular subject area or major.
Interacting with the cultural world
INED also has a policy of ongoing interaction with cultural world actors. Institute research findings are regularly mobilized for major exhibitions, such as “8 milliards d’humains … et après?” [8 billion human beings—and what next?, french only] at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. Moreover, INED is a partner of France’s Museum of Immigration History, to which it regularly provides scientific data for exhibitions. And every year our two institutions organize a scientific study day open to the public at large.
Young audiences: encouraging the development of critical thinking and promoting statistics culture
The Apprentice-Researcher program
The Apprentis chercheurs workshops [FR only] supported by the Arbre des Connaissances association [Tree of knowledge] in collaboration with teachers at the high schools involved and coordinated for INED by Campus Condorcet, enables students to discover and engage in scientific practice. INED researchers host young people by working with them regularly at INED throughout the academic year to design conduct a research project.
See the press communiqué on this program [FR]
FabStat: grasping statistics
Statistical methods are central to INED researchers’ studies. Assisted by research engineers and technicians in the Institute’s Survey and Data Processing Methods support services, our researchers regularly make resources available on the website to assist secondary and higher education students in acquiring a statistical approach to research.
Co-constructing research: participatory science
INED cultivates participatory research, an approach in which researchers collaborate with people directly concerned by the research topic, such as social services personnel, advocacy groups and associations, and neighborhood residents, among others.
