Who are we?

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Governance

A Board of Directors with a wide range of expertise approves the Institute’s strategic orientations and monitors their implementation.

A trans-disciplinary Scientific Committee, composed of researchers, sets the framework for the Institute’s research programmes and contributes to its strategic brainwork.

Board of Directors

Yannick Blanc, President, Vice-President of la Fonda.
Brigitte Clavagnier, Secretary, Lawyer, and Scientific Director at JurisAssociations.
Caroline Germain, Treasurer and Chief Delegate for Association pour le Développement de l’Accompagnement à la Stratégie et à l’Innovation de l’Intérêt Général.
Brigitte Giraud, Vice-President, President of CELAVAR and Le Rameau.
Sylvain Rigaud, Deputy Managing Director, Réseau national des Maisons des associations.
Jean-François Serres, Founder of Monalisa and Administrator of Mouvement Associatif.
Arnaud Thenoz, Deputy President of Fédération nationale des comités des fêtes, Vice-President of Mouvement Associatif Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Stéphane Landreau, General Director of Citoyens & Justice and Administrator of Mouvement Associatif.
François Mayaux, President of Oltravia, previously a professor at emlyon business school.

Scientific Committee

Julia Bonaccorsi, Vice-President of Sciences and Society at Université Lumière Lyon 2, Professor of Information and Communication Sciences.
Elisabetta Bucolo, Sociologist, Member of LISE-CNRS (UMR 3320), Senior Lecturer at CNAM.
Romain Demissy, Doctor of Economics, associate researcher at the ATEMIS laboratory, Member of the European Institute for the Economics of Functionality and Cooperation.
Bernard Enjolras, Director of Research at the Institute for Social Research, Director of the Norwegian Center for Research on Civil Society and Editor of the journal Voluntas.
Marie Fare, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Université Lumière Lyon 2.
Laurent Fraisse, Socio-economist, Associate Member of Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Sociologie Economique, Senior Lecturer at CNAM, University of Valenciennes and IAE Panthéon Sorbonne.
Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Doctor of Political Science, Ex-Director of the Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society.
Laetitia Lethielleux, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA), and Member of the REGARDS Laboratory.
Guillaume Plaisance, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of CSR at IRGO, IAE Bordeaux, Université de Bodreaux.
Mathilde Renault-Tinacci, Research Officer at INJEP, PhD in Sociology and Associate Researcher at CERLIS – Ministère de l’éducation nationale, de la jeunesse et des sports.
Philippe Ryfman, Professor and Honorary Associate Researcher at the Department of Political Science, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Associate Researcher at the OCCAH (UQAM/Montréal) and Member of the Paris Bar.
Roger Sue, Sociologist, Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Université Paris 5 – Sorbonne.
Julien Talpin, Research Director at CNRS, Deputy Director of CERAPS and Co-director of GIS Démocratie et Participation.
Guillaume Jaubert, Senior Lecturer, IFROSS – Université Lyon 3.

Staff

Floriant Covelli - Managing Director

Floriant is a graduate of Rouen Business School. He started his career in economy before transitioning into public policy evaluation. He then joined a major French foundation as Delegate for the Rhône-Alpes region, later taking on the role of Director of Territorial Development and eventually coordinating the foundation’s strategic plan. With 21 years of experience at this foundation, he gained a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of civil society organisations to various public interest areas, and developed specialised expertise in territorial philanthropy. Alongside Simone André, he led the launching committee of the French Institute for Civil Society Organisations for 8 years before taking its leadership in 2019. Since then, he has focused on identifying the knowledge needs of the civic sector, developing research programmes, particularly in participatory research, and fostering closer ties between the civic and scholarly spheres.

Véronique Rioufol - Deputy Managing Director

Véronique is a graduate in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. She is specialised in two key dimensions of the civic space from an international perpsective: advocacy on social and environmental issues within large international solidarity and human rights organisations, both in France and internationally. Véronique also faciliated international networks of diverse actors within a Swiss foundation and several umbrella associations. In parallel, Véronique is actively involved in the governance and actions of civil society organisations focused on international solidarity and transition. Through her experiences, she has gained a deep understanding of practitioners in the fields of transition, international solidarity, and advocacy, while developing skills in networking, international advocacy, and civic management. Véronique joined the Institute in June 2024 as Deputy Managing Director to support the management of research programmes, enhance outreach efforts, and promote international development.

Amira Azaiez - Project and Communication Officer

Amira has an interdisciplinary background with various international experiences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anglo-American Studies from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Sfax, where she also earned a research master’s degree in English Linguistics with merits. She then pursued an advanced master’s in Interdisciplinary European Studies at the College of Europe, where she developed a strong interest in democratic issues, particularly through the lens of the civic sector. To further consolidate this experience, Amira completed a third master’s in Political Science at the University of Jean Monnet / Sciences Po Lyon. As part of her last degree, Amira interned for two academic years at the Institute before joining its team as Project and Communication Officer in October 2024. Today, Amira supports the management of research programmes and is responsible for institutional communications, social media, editorial content, and the dissemination of the Institute’s activities.