Our teams
ISIT’s research team specializes in international studies, in particular politics, international relations, international law, comparative law and linguistics. ISIT brings together multidisciplinary researchers from a broad variety of academic and professional backgrounds, forming a team of experienced and passionate specialists.
Research governance
The team is led by Dr. Agata de Laforcade HDR and comprises permanent researchers:
- Dr. Malek Al-Zaoum
- Prof. Manlio Cinalli
- Ms Joelle Cohen
- Dr. Pascale Elbaz
- Ms Elvire Palem
- Dr. Diana Saiz Navarro
and associate researchers:
– Dr. Clare Donovan
– Prof. Christine Durieux
and associate researchers:
- Dr. Clare Donovan
- Prof. Christine Durieux
The research team organizes ISIT’s scientific activities: conferences, research seminars, study days, as well as supervising student work. The majority of ISIT researchers are also attached to the research centers of the Université Paris Panthéon-Assas, of which ISIT is a component institution, such as the Centre Thucydide (link), CARISM (link) and the Institut de droit comparé (link). Additionally, ISIT researchers are involved in research activities as part of the 4EU+ Alliance.
ISIT’s teaching and research staff bring together expertise in various fields of international studies, including politics, international relations, comparative law, international law and linguistics. Their research enriches ISIT’s initial and executive training programs with cutting-edge scientific input.
Discover the profiles of our research lecturers
A multidisciplinary team of research lecturers
The profiles of our lecturers are presented below.
ABDULMALEK AL-ZAUM
Head of Arabic Department
Professor of Arabic translation
Malek Al-Zaum holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Tours and a Master’s degree in translation from ESIT. He is a research-lecturer in Arabic translation (general translation, technical translation and website translation). He also teaches Arabic at INALCO and Paris-Sorbonne University Paris IV.
Aa a member of the ISIT Laboratory, and an associate of PLIDAM and CERMOM, he has published a number of scientific works (books, articles, essays).
His publications focus on translation and literature, and more generally on the teaching of Arabic.
Manlio CINALLI
Manlio Cinalli is a professor at the University of Milan and associate researcher at ISIT. He is Associate Director of Research at CEVIPOF. At ISIT, he co-directs the Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and heads the Grande Ecole program: International Politics, Law and Economy. He has previously taught and researched at a number of leading universities and institutes in Europe and the USA, including Columbia University, the University of Oxford, IUE and the University of Geneva. Professor Cinalli has published widely on citizenship, political integration and global “seams” across national, ethnic, religious and generational divides.
JOËLLE COHEN
Academic Director, International Communication and Management Department
Joëlle Cohen holds a degree in Graphic Semiology from the Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and a Master 2 in Intercultural Management from Paris-Dauphine University. Her research focuses on the relationships between individuals, technologies and cultures. She is particularly interested in the digital transformations brought about by technological innovations. Her ongoing search for meaning in the appropriation or rejection of technologies has articulated her academic career around the cognitive, semiological, experiential and cultural dimensions of information processing. As a visual communication consultant for over 30 years, she has lectured at a number of universities and Grandes Ecoles, including the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, ISIT, Audencia Nantes, Celsa, INA Sup, Campus digital and Gobelins Paris. Since 2023, she has been Academic Director of the Master’s degree in International Communication and Management at ISIT.
Clare DONOVAN
Clare Donovan obtained a Master’s degree in Conference Interpreting from ESIT in 1982. She subsequently worked as an interpreter for numerous international organizations, government departments and private clients. She has drawn on this experience in her research, completing a PhD in 1990 on the notion of fidelity in interpreting. She taught at ESIT, Sorbonne Nouvelle, from 1984 to 2021, where she directed the Master of Interpreting program for over fifteen years. She currently teaches at ISIT and at the University of Lomé, Togo, where she is co-directing a new Master’s program. As a founding member of EMCI and PAMCIT, she has organized training courses and workshops worldwide. She is co-editor-in-chief of Forum magazine and a member of the editorial board of several specialized journals. Her research focuses on interpreting training, interpreting into non-native languages, and the sociology of the profession, with particular reference to ethical issues.
CHRISTINE DURIEUX
Professor of Translation Studies and Research Methodology
Professor emeritus (University of Caen-Normandie)
After graduating from ESIT, Christine Durieux obtained a doctorate in translation studies and is qualified to direct research. Within her responsibilities for the doctorate in translation studies, she has supervised some twenty theses and participated in numerous thesis and HDR juries in France and abroad.
As a member of the scientific committee of several journals, she is also frequently asked to evaluate research projects. Christine Durieux is also founder of the joint Franco-Hellenic Master’s degree in Translation Sciences, Translating and Cognitive Sciences, in partnership with the Ionian University of Corfu, and co-founder/scientific director of the Franco-Algerian Doctoral School of Translation.
She has also worked as an expert for the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on inter-university cooperation.
AGATA DE LAFORCADE
Academic and Research Director
Director of the Law and Multilingual Studies Double Curriculum (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Université Paris-Panthéon Assas and Faculté Jean Monnet)
Agata de Laforcade holds a doctorate in private law and an accreditation to direct research from the Université Paris Panthéon-Assas. She is Academic and Research Director at ISIT and co-director of the ISIT/Assas double degree and double master’s program in comparative law, “Droit et études multilingues”. She is also an associate professor at the American Graduate School. Her research focuses on the linguistic dimension of law, comparative criminal law, international criminal law and comparative fundamental freedoms.
DIANA SAIZ NAVARRO
Academic Director of the “International Strategies & Diplomacy” Department
Professor of Spanish and Latin American Law
Diana Saiz Navarro holds a degree in International Economic Law from the Externado University of Colombia, a DEA in Political Studies from the University of Paris II-Panthéon-Assas and a DEA in Bioethics and Law from the University of Barcelona. Diana Saiz Navarro holds a doctorate in public law docteur en droit public from the university of Paris II-Panthéon-Assas.
She is also a lawyer at the Externado University of Colombia and a member of the Bogotá Bar.
Addtdionally, she has taught constitutional law and introduction to political institutions at the universities of Paris II-Panthéon-Assas, Paris Nanterre-Paris X and Cergy-Pontoise.
Her interdisciplinary academic career has enabled her to acquire in-depth knowledge of legal-political systems in Europe and around the world, as well as developing special sensitivity to research issues in the fields of bioethics law, biomedical ethics, fundamental rights and geopolitics, from a Latin American and European perspective.
Since September 1, 2018, she has held the position of a lecturer-researcher and Academic Director of the “International Strategies & Diplomacy” Master’s program at ISIT.
Her current academic interests revolve around international cooperation, especially in the Latin American region.
PASCALE ELBAZ
Pascale Elbaz holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Paris IV Panthéon-Sorbonne and a doctorate in languages, literatures and societies of the world (specializing in the Chinese world) from Inalco (French national institute for oriental languages and civilizations), obtained in 2014. She is a lecturer-researcher at ISIT and a research associate at IFRAE (French research Institute for research on East Asia).
Her teaching covers translation from Chinese to French, comparative terminology and research in translation, terminology and knowledge transfer.
Her research focuses on the history of ideas between the West and the Far East, the birth of modern Chinese vocabulary and the influence of Western languages in this process, multilingual comparative terminology and teaching methods in translation in the digital age, with algorithmic systems, neology…
She is a tutor for applied research projects in translation and terminology with major institutions (Ministry of Culture, Monde diplomatique, Musée du Louvre) and for research dissertations by second-year Master’s students. She also co-supervises three theses in language and translation didactics and comparative terminology.
Pascale Elbaz is President of the FIT (International Federation of Translators) Research Group, a member of Working Group 4 of the European Network on Lexical Innovation (ENEOLI): Training in neology, a member of Working Group 5 of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation Network and of the European Master’s in Translation (EMT): Linguistic Data and Terminology, and a member of the European Language Council (ECL) Interest Group on AI in Translation and Interpreting. She is also actively involved in the international transdisciplinary research project SAGA (Sustainable Cities and Translanguaging).
Rhita BOUSTA
Rhita BOUSTA holds a doctorate in public law from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (2009) and an accreditation to direct research at the University of Lille, where she lectures. Public law and comparative law are at the heart of her publications and activities. Between 2017 and 2020, she was professor and academic coordinator at the Open University of Catalonia. In July 2019, she was awarded the qualification of “Profesora titular de derecho” by the Spanish National Agency for the Evaluation of Teacher-Researchers. She teaches at ISIT as part of the Law and Multilingual Studies double curriculum.