“I can’t think
without writing.”
The “shell office”. Wall installation based on the original photograph by Jean Mohr, 1978. FPSE Library, UniMail, Geneva.
In addition to its function as a documentary centre, the Jean Piaget Archives organizes several scientific activities (seminars, congresses and exhibitions). They welcome people for specific research and those awarded with a research grant.
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In order to comply with UNIGE guidelines, we regret to announce the cancellation of this week’s events: Tribute to Bärbel Inhelder on the 3rd of March; and the Seminar, on Wednesday the 4th of March. We hope to be able to reschedule them as soon as possible.
Seminars
The Jean Piaget Archives offer a weekly interdisciplinary seminar where specialists from several scientific disciplines are invited to discuss, from the perspective of their respective disciplines, a question related to the topics of Piaget’s work. The rule of the game is that each speaker should put the contemporary approach of his discipline or speciality in perspective with that developed by Piaget to highlight the convergent and divergent aspects. This seminar is organised every year during the summer semester.
Scientific meetings
Between 1979 and 2010, a biennial advanced course brought together internationally renowned speakers on a topic related to Piagetian theory. In 2012, on the centenary of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, the predecessor of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, the Jean Piaget Archives organized a Day of Great Witnesses. Starting in 2014, the biennial Jean Piaget Conferences have taken over and offer a series of lectures. They are a unique opportunity for students, researchers and anyone interested in child development to have a rigorous overview of the state of research on a current issue by the most eminent specialists with whom it is possible to exchange and discuss.
Exhibitions
In 2009, the year of the 450th anniversary of the University of Geneva, the Jean Piaget Archives presented an exceptional exhibition entitled “Bonjour Monsieur Piaget”. Celebrating both the man and the work, the exhibition offered the public a new image of Jean Piaget presented from a variety of perspectives.
In 2016, another exhibition entitled “From Observation to Theory” highlighted the life of five members of a family–Jean, Valentine, and their children Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent–during the construction of the Piagetian theory of development.
Research at the Piaget Archives
As a documentary and archival centre, the Jean Piaget Archives welcome those interested in conducting research on the work and history of Jean Piaget and his collaborators. For organisational reasons, those interested in doing their research are requested to contact the Archives in advance.
Research grants
The Fondation Jean Piaget pour recherches psychologiques et épistémologiques (Jean Piaget Foundation for Psychological and Epistemological Research) was created by Jean Piaget in 1976 to promote the development of these disciplines. To this end, and in collaboration with the Jean Piaget Archives, it offers grants for documentary research to be carried out at the AJPs. These scholarships are intended for scholars who wish to complete their research as part of a publication project or a doctoral thesis. The research conducted at the Jean Piaget Archives should focus on theoretical or experimental aspects of Piaget’s psychology or epistemology and/or on its current extensions. Research could also be of a historical nature, concerning the life and/or work of Jean Piaget and his collaborators.
