As part of its contribution to MSF's critical self-reflexion, the CRASH regularly invites outside speakers, researchers and key civil society figures to come present their perspectives and their work on general issues that intersect with the concerns of humanitarian action. Intended primarily for an internal audience - but open to others closely connected to the association - each conference is followed by an open discussion.

The quantification of needs
12/10/2020 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMCombining historical research and ethnographic investigations, the Africanist historian Joël Glasman plunges us into the factory of the homo humanitarianus, the average individual, on the basis of which "needs" and aid projects today are assessed. This conversation took place on December 10th 2020, during a conference-debate at Crash.

Clinical trials, between science and financial and academic interests
10/08/2020 - 04:00 PM 06:00 PMPierre Chirac, pharmacist and editor of the journal Prescrire, will present his analysis of the pharmaceutical industry's influence strategies and the special interests of university hospital researchers, their consequences on the reliability of drug information and the means now required to rectify a harmful situation.

Territories: the illusion of identity
12/16/2019 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMConference-debate on Monday 16 December 2019, 6-8pm in the 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 14-34 avenue Jean Jaurès 75019 Paris. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
Can we talk about the specificities of the Middle East, Iran or the Mediterranean without reducing these territories to a culture or religion? On December 16, 2019, the CRASH team organised a conference-debate with Jean-François Bayart, a French political scientist who has devoted his work to the sociology of the State and identity illusions.

Screening - debate / La Ville Monde
11/07/2019 - 05:30 PM 07:30 PMScreening - debate "La Ville Monde" on Thursday 7th of November 2019, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, in MSF's new premises at 14-34 avenue Jean Jaurès 75019 Paris.
Médecins Sans Frontières and Crash are pleased to invite you to a screening, followed by a debate, of the documentary film "La Ville Monde" (52', subtitled in English), directed by Antarès Bassis and produced by Les films du Balibari. The film, of which MSF is a partner, traces the trajectory of the La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe from its opening in March 2016 to the fire that destroyed it in April 2017.

Motivations for mass violence: different interpretations
10/03/2019 - 04:00 PM 06:00 PMConference – debate, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6-8pm, 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 8 rue Saint Sabin. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
What turns ordinary men into killers? The CRASH team invites you to a conference – debate with the sociologist and historian, Nicolas Mariot, author of an article entitled « Faut-il être motivé pour tuer? Sur quelques explications aux violences de guerre » (Genèses, n°53, 2003, p. 154-177) and books such as “Face à la persécution. 991 Juifs dans la guerre (with Claire Zalc, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010), “Tous unis dans la tranchée ? 1914-1918, les intellectuels rencontrent le peuple (Paris, Seuil, 2013). Nicolas Mariot will present two differing interpretations of motivations for mass violence in the 20th century, drawn from a series of studies and surveys on the subject.

The 20th anniversary of the MSF Access Campaign
06/03/2019 - 01:00 PM 02:00 PMTo address the political, economic and legal barriers to patients' access to life-saving treatments, MSF created, in 1999, the Access Campaign (the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines). In these videos, Jean-Hervé Bradol, doctor and crash study director, answers questions from Andrea Bussotti (MSF-France Operational Communication Manager). In the light of the historical background of the early days of the Access Campaign, he analyses the medico-operational context of the Campaign today and asks himself the question of its objectives.

Third-Worldism and Sans-Frontiérisme 1954-1988
04/11/2019 - 04:30 PM 06:30 PMEleanor Davey, historian of ideas and humanitarianism, senior lecturer at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute, University of Manchester, discusses her book, Idealism Beyond Borders. The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988, devoted to the intellectual history of sans-frontiérisme and Third-Worldism, in France, from the Algerian war to the early years of Médecins Sans Frontières.

Extreme violence: investigate, rescue, judge. Syria, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo
03/20/2019 - 01:00 PM 03/22/2019 - 04:00 PMTheaters of war, genocide, mass crimes, Syria, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are at the heart of the international symposium organized by the platform L’humanitaire dans la globalisation of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH) and the Centre de Réflexion sur l'Action et les Savoirs Humanitaires (CRASH) of Médecins Sans Frontières. This symposium is part of the commemoration by these two institutions of the 25 years of the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis.

France in Rwanda. Guilty neutrality
02/11/2019 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMThe CRASH team invites you to the screening-debate “France in Rwanda. Guilty neutrality” on Monday 11th of February 2019 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room of the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. A documentary film by Robert Genoud and Claudine Vidal (Director Emeritus for research at the CNRS, member of the CRASH scientific committee at MSF), and produced by EUP. Before and after the screening, Claudine Vidal and Jean-Hervé Bradol, both actors of MSF mobilization between 1994 and 1998 launch the discussion.

Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s
12/17/2018 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMThe CRASH team invites you to the debate-conference “Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s” on Monday 17th of December 2018 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room at the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. We will be hosting Caroline Izambert, who recently defended, at the EHESS, her PhD thesis focusing on the foreigners’ access to healthcare in France. Her title: “Heal foreigners?” The State and the civil society organisations for the health coverage of the poor and foreigners in France from the 1980s to the present day.

Borders and Hospitality
11/26/2018 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMConference/debate with Benjamin Boudou, political scientist and researcher at the Max Planck institute.

Immunization: new perspectives on vaccines - Conference with Lise Barnéoud
12/05/2017 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMWho profits from vaccination? Individuals? Society? Companies? Is vaccination efficient? Is it dangerous? Profitable? What are the factors influencing public opinion in this domain? Lise Barnéoud, science journalist and author of Immunisés ? Un nouveau regard sur les vaccins, has engaged in an investigation revealing multiple - and sometimes contradictory - realities observed in the French vaccination sector. She has carried out her investigation from three distinct viewpoints: the one of a mother who needs to decide whether to vaccinate her children or not; of a journalist leading an enquiry; and of a scientist analyzing how facts are built.
Lise Barnéoud was a Crash guest speaker at a conference on vaccination held on December 5, 2017. A discussion with Epicentre, Crash and the MSF Medical Department allowed us to exchange views on vaccinal policy, which remains a cornerstone of MSF operations and a recurring subject of discussion and controversy.