The IRGSR – Interdisciplinary Research Group on Social Representations – is a research collective founded by Catherine Garnier at the Université du Québec à Montréal, in Canada. The IRGSR was transferred to the Department of Communication at the Université de Montréal in 2013. The collective brings together senior and junior researchers who work on different projects related to activities involving interdisciplinary and social representations.
Social Representations: An Interdisciplinary Look
The research, exchanges and reflections of members of our group have led to lines of research and training whose core is the understanding of complex social dynamics (ethical, political, economic, etc.) and individual (affective, cognitive and moral ) crelated to major issues such as violence; alimentation, nutrition and social inclusion of youth; sex education, illiteracy and school dropout; screening for genetic diseases and the exponential development of drug consumption; the implementation of public policies aimed at sustainable development and respect for the environment, etc. In order to fully address these issues, the research group examines how knowledge, whether scientific or based on common sense, gets immersed in social relations that depend heavily on appropriation, negociation and transformation processes, that is knowledge co-construction. These lines of inquiry are consistemnt with the strategic choices of research partner institutions.
Objectives of the IRGSR
- To understand the complex dynamics that occur in social practices related to health, education and the environment to ensure the development of strategies that promote the production, processing, distribution, negociation and appropriation of scientific knowledge and knowledge built by communities of practice;
- To develop models of innovative and integrative research, training and partnership on interdisciplinarity complex issues related to emerging social issues in the fields of health, education and the environment ;
- To consolidate a national and international network of research and training on interdisciplinarity and social representions resulting from new research practices, along with new knowledge in the various fields of application, through exchanges between researchers and communities of practice.