The Laboratoire Paragraphe (EA 349) is an interdisciplinary research laboratory, recognised since its creation in 1983 in Paris 8 University’s Information and Communication Sciences department. Since 2008, it has been recognised in Psychology as a secondary field of study. It is co-supervised by Paris 8 University and CY Cergy Paris University. Paragraphe has 42 permanent lecturers (including nine professors, four senior lecturers/research supervisors, 27 senior lecturers and two visiting lecturers), 45 doctoral students, one half-time post in BIATOSS (libraries, engineers, administrative staff, technicians, workers, social workers and health workers).

The co-supervision by Paris 8 University and Cergy Paris University allows Paragraphe members affiliated with either university to work together on fundamental and applied research topics and issues with high societal relevance, such as education, digital literacy and lifelong learning. This partnership offers researchers the opportunity to apply an integrated approach to these issues by pooling multi-disciplinary skills and interaction between the different, complementary fields of both university’s members. This includes, for example, research on the cognitive processes of learning and knowledge acquisition, new forms of mediatisation (soft ergonomics) and learning in the digital era (e-learning, online university courses).

Several courses are now supported by Paragraphe. At Paris 8 University, this includes five courses in Information and Communication Sciences, two courses in Psychology and Ergonomics at the faculty of Psychology (UFR) and an interdisciplinary course (Information and Communication Sciences, Computer Science, Psychology), as well as six courses in Psychology at the Ecole Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Education (ESPE) of the Académie de Versailles (part of CY Cergy Paris University). Paragraphe is also involved in the Patrimoines et musées (Heritage and Museums) course co-supervised by Paris 8 University and Paris Nanterre University as part of the Paris Lumières Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions. The teaching staff at Paragraphe teach more than 400 master’s and undergraduate students a year.

Paragraphe is associated with:

• Doctoral School n°224 in Cognition, Language and Interaction (CLI) of Paris 8 University Vincennes - Saint-Denis;
• Doctoral School n° 284 in Law and Human Sciences of CY Cergy Paris University;
• the Humanités numériques (Digital Humanities - formerly Hypermedia) and Sciences de l’information (Information Sciences) departments of the UFR des Sciences et des Technologies du Numérique (STN) (Faculty of Digital Sciences and Technologies) of Paris 8 University;
• UFR Psychologie (Faculty of Psychology) of Paris 8 University;
• ESPE: Ecole Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Education (ESPE) of the Académie de Versailles (part of CY Cergy Paris University).

The Laboratoire Paragraphe is a founding member of the following leading research centres:

• ARTS-H2H Centre of Excellence (Paris 8 University) ranked A+
• PATRIMA Centre of Excellence (CY Cergy Paris University and Versailles) ranked A+
• Idefi CréaTIC Programme of Excellence ranked A+
• EUR (European Research Schools - ArTeC (Arts, Technology, Digital Technology, Human Mediations & Creation)
• ISITE project of the Paris-Seine Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions of which CY Cergy Paris University is a member
• MSH (Master’s in Human Sciences) of Paris Nord and Campus Condorcet

In the 2015 Technologies clés (Key Technologies) report published by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, Paragraphe is mentioned in field 28: Data usage and intelligence. Paragraphe is considered one of the leading French centres in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. Find out more at
http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/114000139/0000.pdf p. 105