Virginie Tournay

Originally trained as a biologist, Virginie Tournay is also a political scientist and Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), based at CEVIPOF at Sciences Po. Her research focuses on biotechnology, epistemology, and public opinion studies. In 2011, she was awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal for her work in the sociology of institutions.

Alongside her academic career, Tournay is also a science fiction writer. Her novel "Civilisation 0.0" (Glyphe) imagines a hyperconnected society in 2062 brought to a standstill by a catastrophic failure of its digital infrastructure, exploring how deeply our moral values depend on technological systems. In "S’il te plaît, dessine-moi une institution" (Glyphe), she examines our relationship to reality through an imagined dialogue between a sociologist and a theoretical physicist on the nature and perception of institutions.

She is also a member of the Red Team, a foresight initiative created by the French Defence Innovation Agency in partnership with Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, which brings together writers and researchers to imagine future military threats that could affect France and its strategic interests.