Moving beyond the department/field logic, at ESSEC we are fully aware of the necessity to develop research across disciplinary frontiers. Indeed, in understanding complex social and business issues, cross perspectives may allow us to provide the relevant answer. This is the role of our research centers and centers promoted by ESSEC.

Center of Research in Economics, Finance & Actuarial Sciences on Risk (CREAR)

CREAR is a self-standing organization operating within the ESSEC Research Center. Its purpose is to foster research in the field of quantitative analysis on financial and insurance risks. In the context of the new risk based regulation (Solvency 2, Pillar 1 and ORSA, Swiss Solvency Test, Risk Based Capital from NAIC), it is focused on (re)insurances and bank-insurances. It is a structured dynamics in the field of risk analysis, which facilitates the exchanges between professionals and academics, may generate possible collaborations on identified problems and conducts research in these areas. With the support of the Bank-Finance-Insurance Group of the French Society of Statistics, and the support of the French Institute of Actuaries (IA), it plans to establish productive links with similar international research laboratories and companies. Visit the CREAR website for more information about seminars and publications.
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European Center for Law and Economics

The European Center for Law and Economics is a center for excellence where the work and activities of both disciplines meet, within a comparative European and global perspective. There is a growing awareness of the interaction between judicial systems on one hand, and a company’s performance within their legal regulation systems. Judicial risk and the overall legal environment culture are considerations that are increasingly strategic at the highest level of decision-making in companies; the legal management team is frequently part of the company’s strategy committee.
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Energy and Commodity Finance - Research center (ECOMFIN)

The Energy and Commodity Finance at ESSEC Business School aims at promoting research and disseminating knowledge in the field of commodity markets and energy finance. This goal is pursued by undertaking research projects and hosting activities for incentivizing interaction across disciplines including finance, economics, financial mathematics, operations research, and management science. Focus is put on bridging international collaborations among researchers at a worldwide level. The center organizes scientific conferences, runs a monthly webinar, supervises a dedicated graduate track, and manages Argo Review, a journal devoted on cutting-edge knowledge in the field.
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CONcertation, Négociation, Environnement, Conception et Territoires (CONNECT)

Concertation is becoming a major stake in decision processes in the development and environment field. It is a practice which is developing in France and many other countries in reply to both the conflictual nature of development projects, socio-technical controversies controversies, and the wider public questioning of experts and authorities. The CONNECT center has given itself an objective of shedding light on the input and limits of these systems of concertation via the conducting of transdisciplinary research based on challenges designed by the center’s researchers and their partners.
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Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE)

The Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE) was created by ESSEC in 1996 in order to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in negotiation, mediation, stakeholders’ dialogue and conflict resolution. Since 2008, ESSEC IRENE has been directed by Aurélien COLSON, Professor of political science at ESSEC. IRENE’s activities are structured around  programmes that share the same philosophy: breaking the walls between research, training, teaching and fieldwork to achieve better results.
• Regarding research: IRENE includes PhD candidates, publishes works and hosts an international network of researchers. Since 2008, IRENE has organized 68 Interdisciplinary Research and Education on Negotiation (SIRENE). In 2019, IRENE organized an international conference "The military and negotiation" with the War College (French Ministry of the Armies.
• Regarding training: IRENE organises seminars for higher education institutions (including ENA since 1997), for companies and for international organisations (such as the European Commission since 2004, several UN agencies, the French Ministry of the Armies since 2010, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2010, the EEAS since 2011). Each year, around 2,000 people participate in our trainings.
• On the ground: IRENE has contributed to conflict resolution; in 2008, IRENE became the first French organisation to join EPLO – European Peace-building Liaison Office. From 2012 to 2021, the European Commission asked IRENE to lead the Governance Team of the European Union’s Centres of Excellence for CBRN Risk Mitigation, notably in the Sahelian region, in Western Africa, in the Caucasus and the Balkans.
To this day, ESSEC IRENE has worked in 82 different countries. In July 2010, IRENE opened IRENE ASIA in Singapore, a platform where researchers and practitioners from Europe and Asia can exchange on negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. In June 2014, IRENE opened IRENE EUROPA in Brussels.
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Labex MME-DII

L’ESSEC est membre du Labex MME-DII (Modèles Mathématiques et Economiques de la Dynamique, de l’Incertitude et des Interactions), qui associe dans un projet commun, centré sur la modélisation mathématique, économique et financière, plus de 150 chercheurs en sciences économiques, en mathématiques et en physique. Il réunit ainsi sept établissements franciliens d’enseignement supérieur et de recherche : l’université de Cergy-Pontoise (laboratoires THEMA, AGM et LPTM ), l’université Paris Nord (laboratoire CEPN et LAGA),  l’université Paris Ouest (laboratoire Modal’X), l’ESSEC Business School, l’université Panthéon-Assas (laboratoire LEM), l’université d’Evry (laboratoire EPEE) et le CNRS autour d’un projet interdisciplinaire.

Le laboratoire MME-DII constituera un centre de référence international dans la modélisation des processus aléatoires, des décisions en situation d’incertitude et de la dynamique des interactions individuelles. En associant des savoirs aux frontières des connaissances en mathématiques, en sciences économiques et en physique théorique, le laboratoire MME-DII permettra d’éclairer des grands enjeux sociétaux allant de la prévention des crises financières à la gestion des risques environnementaux.
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THEMA

In 2009, ESSEC entered a research agreement with Cergy-Pontoise University (UCP) and the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) THEMA, one of the principal research centers in applied microeconomics in France. Research within the THEMA research laboratory has mainly focused on economic policy issues involving international microeconomics and macroeconomics. The research synergies between ESSEC economists and the THEMA research lab have since gained substantial momentum.
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