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Eligible research fields

The AXA Research Fund supports scientists and institutions of excellence worldwide, where research is linked to life, societal and environmental risks.

"We want to offer researchers what they need to work in the best possible conditions. All disciplines are eligible, with no restrictions; the Fund finances exact sciences as well as human and social sciences."

Anne-Juliette Hermant,
Head of the AXA Research Fund

Environmental risks

The prevention of natural risks and their consequences, and the development of adaptation models to manage these risks have become vital challenges.
We therefore encourage leading edge research on environmental risks, including, more specifically:

  • climate disasters such as floods, seismic risks, avalanches, hail, storms, and other natural phenomena
  • socio-economic consequences of natural disasters
  • risks arising from climate change, with both socioeconomic and environmental repercussions.

Life risks

The AXA Research Fund devotes a portion of its funding to the prevention of risks to human life in order to improve current and future generations wellbeing and quality of life. The Fund notably promotes work concerning:

  • longevity and long-term care (mechanisms and causes of longevity, costs and funding of long-term care, well-being and quality of life of the elderly, etc.)
  • emerging biomedical risks (infectious diseases and emerging pandemics, nanotechnologies, etc.)
  • addictions and at-risk behaviour (drugs, tobacco, alcohol, etc.).

Socio-economic risks

Socio-economic risks threaten global systems and equilibria on a daily basis. Knowing how to avoid them through better anticipation is a major challenge and one that the AXA Research Fund has chosen to undertake. The funded projects in this area focus namely on the following topics:

  • geopolitical risks (politics, crime, access to resources, etc.)
  • financial, economic, and social risks (causes and impacts of financial crises, regulation, inequalities, etc.)
  • major corporate risks (governance, safety, and environmental risks, etc.).