One of the unique features of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences is that most of its partner teams focus primarily on field and investigative research from France and abroad in the fields of sociology and geography. Some of its sociology research teams are linked with North American field schools and benefit from long-lasting, close partnerships with them.

Another key asset to the doctoral school is the diversity of cultural and geographical areas covered by the teams, including North Africa, the ex-USSR and Europe, and the importance placed on interdisciplinary collaboration as championed by several of its programmes.

Themes include:

• Notions of space and time in the social sciences
• History and epistemology of the science of society
• Economic and social ties
• History of life and institutions
• Globalisation and society
• Approaches to inequality
• Risk assessment
• Languages and cultures

Research teams

• EA 3388 - Centre d’études sur les médias, les technologies et l’internationalisation - CEMTI (Centre for Studies in Media, Technologies and Internationalisation)
• EA 3971 - Centre de recherche interuniversitaire, expérience, ressources culturelles, éducation -EXPERICE (Inter-University Research Centre for Experimentation, Cultural Resources and Education)
• EA 353 - Centre de recherches et d’analyses géopolitiques - CRAG (Centre for Research and Geopolitical Analysis)
• UMR 7217 - Centre de recherches sociologiques et politiques de Paris - CRESPPA (Paris Centre for Sociological and Political Research)
• EA 1581 - Centre de recherches en droit privé et droit de la santé - CRDPDS (Centre for Research in Private and Health Law)
• EA 4387 - Forces du droit: paradoxes, comparaisons et expérimentations - FDPCE (Legal Institutions: Paradoxes, Comparisons and Experimentation)
• UMR 7218 - Laboratoire d’architecture, ville, environnement - LAVUE (Laboratory for Architecture, Cities, Urbanism and the Environment)
• EA 3391 - Laboratoire d’économie Dionysien - LED (Saint-Denis Laboratory of Economics)
• EA 4383 – Laboratoire d’informatique avancée de Saint-Denis - LIASD (Saint-Denis Laboratory for Advanced Computer Science)
• UMR 7533 - Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et recomposition des espaces - LADYSS (Laboratory of Social Dynamics and Regeneration of Spaces)

Doctorate programmes

• Doctorat anthropologie (Doctorate in Anthropology)
• Doctorat architecture (Doctorate in Architecture)
• Doctorat droit médical (Doctorate in Medical Law)
• Doctorat droit privé et sciences criminelles (Doctorate in Private Law and Forensic Science)
• Doctorat droit public (Doctorate in Public Law)
• Doctorat études féminines (Doctorate in Women’s Studies)
• Doctorat études slaves - cultures et civilisations contemporaines (Doctorate in Slavic Studies - Contemporary Cultures and Civilisations)
• Doctorat études urbaines, aménagement et urbanismes (Doctorate in Urban Studies, Urban Planning and Urbanism)
• Doctorat géographie - spécialité Géographie humaine et régionale (Doctorate in Geography - Specialisation in Human and Regional Geography)
• Doctorat géographie - spécialité Géographie physique (Doctorate in Geography - Specialisation in Physical Geography)
• Doctorat géographie - spécialité Géopolitique (Doctorate in Geography - Specialisation in Geopolitics)
• Doctorat informatique (Doctorate in Computer Science)
• Doctorat sciences de gestion (Doctorate in Management Science)
• Doctorat de Sciences de l’éducation (Doctorate in Learning Sciences)
• Doctorat sciences de l’information et de la communication (Doctorate in Information and Communication Sciences)
• Doctorat sciences économiques (Doctorate in Economic Science)
• Doctorat sociologie (Doctorate in Sociology)