Challenges and Transitions in French Public Policy Evaluation and Research Governance

The recent Journées Françaises de l'Évaluation (JFE) 2025, held on October 30-31 at Sciences-Po Rennes, brought together over 500 participants including members of Brittany's regional accounts chamber to explore "Evaluation in transition(s): The new challenges of public policy evaluation." This key event, organized by the Société Française de l'Évaluation, emphasized the need to rethink evaluation amid ecological, digital, and democratic upheavals. Discussions focused on three axes: defining public action in transition, evolving evaluative practices, and reshaping the evaluation profession's ecosystem in response to these transitions.

Meanwhile, in the field of scientific research governance, Jérôme Aust of Sciences Po reflected on the Agence nationale de la recherche’s (ANR) two-decade evolution since its 2005 creation after the "Sauvons la recherche" movement. The ANR has become central to France's scientific funding landscape, overseeing a shift from a centralized elite governance model prevalent in the 1960s to a competitive system anchored in project excellence evaluations. Research teams, especially in biomedicine, now see their autonomy increasingly tied to their ability to secure funding through selective project calls.

Together, these developments highlight the broader transformations in French public policy evaluation and scientific research governance that are adapting to societal transitions and new expectations for effectiveness and accountability in public action and research funding.