Toulouse Graduate School défis en économie et sciences sociales quantitatives

The objectives of CHESS are to support Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) and the multidisciplinary Institute for Advanced Study Toulouse (IAST) in their quest to become world-class institutions by advancing their international standing, strengthening TSE’s graduate programs, and fostering multidisciplinary approaches. CHESS embeds two earlier Labex projects, the first awarded in 2011 to seed the de novo creation of IAST, and the second granted in 2012 to strengthen TSE.

In the first seven years of CHESS, TSE and IAST have made steady progress towards these objectives, recognized by the international jury in the 2023 mid-term review. The creation in 2023 of the new autonomous institution TSE (Toulouse of Economics and Quantitative Social Sciences) that encompasses IAST was a key achievement validating the initial vision of CHESS.

During the 2024-25 reporting period, the major developments and achievements of CHESS were: (1) full implementation of the organizational structure of the new institution TSE with the completion and of the creation of three departments; (2) 3 new junior faculty hires; (3) a high volume of 137 research articles in peer-reviewed journals (115 with PIA acknowledgement), of which 21 in top-5 journals and next-tier journals in economics; (4) a strong schedule of academic conferences, weekly seminars, visitors and outreach events; (5) 3 new ERC grants, two EU-funded projects, 12 new ANR grants, and 2 new IUF appointments, and numerous awards and nominations; (6) ranked no. 16 in Economics worldwide in the Shanghai ranking; (7) a strong placement record on the PhD job market and 100% placement rate in spite of worsening market conditions; (8) further advancement in the planning for the new structure of the Master programs in the Grand Etablissement; (9) strong media and social media presence; (10) a solid financial position, spending from CHESS close to schedule and further advances towards a more diversified funding structure.