News

The major events in October 2026

At the Collège de France, all lectures are open to everyone, with no entry requirements or prior registration, subject to availability.

Foucault: an intellectual journey at the Collège de France

Exhibition from 30 September 2026 to 15 January 2027

Organised by the Collège de France in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the exhibition ‘Foucault: An Intellectual Adventure at the Collège de France ’ explores Michel Foucault’s career at the institution where he taught from 1970 to 1984. To mark the centenary of his birth, previously unpublished manuscripts, archives and audio and video recordings trace the development of a body of thought that remains deeply relevant today.

Open to all and free of charge, the exhibition runs from 30 September 2026 to 15 January 2027, Monday to Friday (closed at weekends and on public holidays), from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm, at the Collège de France’s Marcelin-Berthelot Site, 11, place Marcelin-Berthelot, Paris 5^th arrondissement.

Special opening on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 2026 for the European Heritage Days.

Find out more about the exhibition

Special events

Animals
: 2026–2027 Opening Symposium

More than ever before, animals have become a major issue: ecological (health and environmental crises), social, economic and political (agriculture and livestock farming), legal and philosophical. In recent years, the field of animal studies has expanded considerably.

The Collège de France’s 2026 opening symposium aims to offer an in-depth examination of some of these issues through an interdisciplinary approach combining the life and natural sciences, the humanities, literature, the history of religions and law.

14–16 October 2026, Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).

Find out more about the 2026–2027 academic year opening symposium

Michel Foucault at the Collège de France

A series of lectures accompanying the exhibition ‘Foucault: An Intellectual Adventure at the Collège de France’.

From 30 September 2026 to 15 January 2027, the Collège de France exhibition, in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, ‘Foucault: An Intellectual Adventure at the Collège de France’, invites visitors to explore Michel Foucault’s time at an institution on which he left a profound mark.

The lecture series ‘Michel Foucault at the Collège de France’, organised by Aurèle Méthivier (Collège de France) in collaboration with Philippe Chevallier (Bibliothèque nationale de France), aims to expand on this exploration by featuring both contemporary witnesses who worked alongside Michel Foucault and specialists in his work and the intellectual life of the 1970s and 1980s.

On 22 September , 13 October , 3 November , 24 November and 15 December 2026 at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).

Find out more about the conferences

Opening lecture

Doing Better

Opening lecture given by Claire Denis , visiting professor on the annual Cinema Chair .

29 October 2026 at 6.00 pm at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site, Marguerite-de-Navarre Amphitheater) and live on the Collège de France’s YouTube channel .

Find out more about the opening lecture

Conferences

Why and how should we innovate today?

To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Technological Innovation Liliane Bettencourt Annual Chair , established to address the challenges of innovation in scientific research, the Collège de France and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation are organising a major symposium on the theme ‘Why and how should we innovate today?’.

8 October 2026, from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site); registration is compulsory.

The Quest for Atmospheric
Water: Historical, Philosophical, Theological, Political and Legal Issues

This resolutely multidisciplinary conference brings together international law, ethnography, philosophy, history, religious studies and theology to explore a crucial question: how has humanity, both in the past and today, come to appropriate this volatile resource?

8 and 9 October 2026 at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).

Find out more about the conference

The Cultures of Tintin: Towards the Centenary

Three years ahead of Tintin’s centenary, centred on Hergé’s complete works and viewed through the rigorous lens of the most recent scholarly analysis, this international conference aims to explore the prominent place and significance of the work in the 21^st century as a visual construct of social imaginaries. The Cultures of Tintin : a contemporary approach to revisiting Hergé’s work, placing it in the context of its aesthetic uses, its socio-cultural reappropriations and its centrality within the world of comics.

7 and 8 October 2026 in Brussels (Collège Belgique-ULB) and 12 and 13 October 2026 in Paris at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).

Find out more about the conference

Guest speakers

Insights into the Development, Evolution and Diseases of the Human Neocortex

A series of four lectures given by Arnold Kriegstein , invited by the Assembly of the Collège de France on the recommendation of Professors Jean-Jacques Hublin and Alain Prochiantz .

5, 7, 12 and 14 October 2026 at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).

Find out more about the conferences

Yousuke Kaifu

A series of four lectures given by Yousuke Kaifu , invited by the Collège de France on the recommendation of Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin .

22 and 29 September, 6 and 13 October 2026, from ~~5.00 pm to 6.00~~ pm 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm (times changed) at the Collège de France (Marcelin-Berthelot Site).