Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

The natural continuation to create conditions to promote interdisciplinary research

The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences is the natural continuation and consolidation of TSE’s initiative to create conditions to promote interdisciplinary research, instigated in 2011 by Nobel Prize laureate Jean Tirole through the creation of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).  

The Department is the academic home both for economists – in behavioral economics, cultural economics, economic history, law and economics, and political economy – and for scholars in other social and behavioral sciences, such as evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary biology, history, law, political science, psychology, and sociology.  

The aim is to foster groundbreaking interdisciplinary research, not only between economics and other disciplines, but also between other disciplines.   

The Department will also develop multi-disciplinary teaching programmes. 

In sum, the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences provides a unique environment to push the frontiers of economics and several other disciplines within the unified scientific project on which IAST was built, namely  to study the behavior of human beings as evolved biological organisms who live in groups, form networks and coalitions, are governed by formal institutions, informal norms, and religious and cultural practices, produce and exchange scarce resources and are inspired by ideals and beliefs. 

The Department will keep close ties with IAST, notably through joint seminar series, and also through IAST’s Research Fellow and Visiting Fellow programs.

Job Opportunities

The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) regularly offers jobs for Postdoctoral Researchers with a PhD in psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, or related disciplines.

Faculty and Research Fellows

Joshua Weiner

Post-Docs, Engineers and Assistants

IAST Research Fellow, PhD in Political Science

Details

Chiara Zanardello

Post-Docs, Engineers and Assistants

IAST Research Fellow, PhD in Economics

Details

Summer School 2026

The Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences at Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) offers an interdisciplinary program in the social and behavioral sciences. The summer school is open to PhD students in economics and other disciplines. 

More information

Seminars and Conferences

Past

Modelling endogenous processes in mobility

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 13 March 2026

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Marion Hoffman

Détails

Past

To be announced CANCELLED

  • Seminar

  • Behavior, Institutions, and Development Seminar

  • Date 12 March 2026

  • Place Auditorium 4

  • Speaker or organiser Kate Orkin

Détails

Past

Physical problem-solving across timescales

  • Seminar

  • IAST General Seminar

  • Date 10 March 2026

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Kelsey Allen

Détails

Past

The Logic of State Surveillance

  • Seminar

  • IAST General Seminar

  • Date 16 December 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Gemma Dipoppa

Détails

Past

Child Fostering and Repartnering Among Tsimane Mothers: Evidence from a Competing Risks Survival Analysis

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 12 December 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Ilaria Pretelli

Détails

Past

Digital repression and Social Media Use

  • Seminar

  • IAST General Seminar

  • Date 9 December 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First Floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Anita Ghodes

Détails

Past

The Immigration Consensus Revisited: The Case of Singapore

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 21 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (first floor - TSE building)

  • Speaker or organiser Charlotte Cavaillé

Détails

Past

To be announced

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 21 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)

Détails

Past

Social Influence in Context: Assessing and Leveraging Networks and Norms to Improve Health

  • Seminar

  • IAST General Seminar

  • Date 18 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 - (First floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Jessica Perkins

Détails

Past

Flora, Cosmos, Salvatio: Pre-modern Academic Institutions and the Spread of Ideas

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 14 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 6 (Third Floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Chiara Zanardello

Détails

Past

Elite Attitudes and the Unraveling of Democracy: Evidence from French Second Republic

  • Seminar

  • IAST Lunch Seminar

  • Date 7 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First Floor - TSE Building)

Détails

Past

Animal medicine

  • Seminar

  • IAST General Seminar

  • Date 4 November 2025

  • Place Auditorium 4 (First Floor - TSE Building)

  • Speaker or organiser Susana Monso

Détails

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Contact

Jean-François Bonnefon

Department Chair

Jonathan Stieglitz

Scientific Deputy Director

Kristin Michelitch

Teaching Deputy Director

See the publications list

Last news

Économie du désordre mondial (Economy of Global Disorder) : A Best-Seller That Fuels Public Debate

  • Corporate

  • Research

  • TSE Research

  • Development

  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Economics

Erosion of multilateralism, strategic priorities, belief traps... As we begin the 2026 academic year, Jean Tirole and Karine Van der Straeten are contributing their insights to the public debate with the release…

Published on 19 October 2026

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