France spends 61.5 billion euros on research, equal to 2.18% of its GDP. This has enabled the country to achieve its objectives, in particular at an international level, and to attract talented researchers from around the world.
More than 431,100 people (including professors, researchers, engineers, technicians and support staff) are involved in research in France. They work in Universities, Grandes Ecoles , public Institutes and companies.
In France, almost 267,000 research directors, professors, lecturers, staff research and researchers work directly in collaboration with companies. 26 % of them are women. 40% of them work in the public sector and 60% are employed in the private sector. Their work are published in the best international scientific journals and have altogether the fourth highest index of impact in the world.
In France, research is conducted in universities and public research institutes including , to name a few, the CNRS ( Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - National Centre for Scientific Research), INRA ( Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - the National Institute of Agricultural Research) and INSERM ( Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - National Institute of Health and Medical Research). These public institutes are very prestigious. The CNRS is, for example, the leading research institute in the world in terms of number of scientific publications.
Hailed around the world, French research counts many Nobel Prize winners among its ranks . Among the most recent are Michel Devoret (2025), Anne L'huiller and Pierre Agostini (2023), Alain Aspect (2022) in physics, Philippe Aghion (2025) and Esther Duflo (2019) in Economic sciences, Emmanuelle Charpentier (2020 and Jean-Pierre Sauvage (2016) in chemistry, Annie Ernaux (2022) and Patrick Modiano (2014) in literature). In total, 73 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to French people which ranks France fourth among countries.
In mathematics, almost one third of all Fields medal recipients have come from French laboratories , including 10 from that of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS). France is second in the world in terms of number of medals, after the United States. The latest recipients to date are Ngo Bao Chau and Cédric Villani in 2010, and Artur Avila in 2014.
Research knows neither borders, nor nationality: 37% of those enrolled in French Doctoral schools are foreigners and 54% of French scientific publications are the result of international collaboration. To ensure this mix in French research, CNRS has recruited approximately 30% of its researchers from abroad each year since 2010. Like CNRS, many French research centers regularly open international positions and invite people from around the world to teach in France.
As another example, many awards occured thanks to international research: the Vietnamese mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, who was awarded the Fields medal in 2010 (along with Cédric Villani), obtained his Master’s and Doctorate in France.
Opened in 2016 by Campus France, the Research in France portal contains information and tools that will help you prepare your research project in a doctoral school. In particular, you will find:
With the Research in France portal, you also have access to the Campus France information sheets, which include: