The M2 HESP-ReV offers two distinct specializations, while maintaining a significant portion of common coursework. A “research” track, available only as initial or continuing education, culminates in the writing of an original research thesis. A “heritage-enhancement” track, which is professionally oriented and takes place on a work-study basis (theoretical training at the university, practical implementation of a heritage-enhancement project in a company, government agency, or association).
The M2 HESP-ReV offers two distinct specializations, while maintaining a significant portion of common coursework. A “research” track, available only as initial or continuing education, culminates in the writing of an original research thesis, which remains the main objective of the program, opening primarily, but not exclusively, to careers in teaching and research (with the possibility of pursuing a doctorate). The program places particular emphasis on the economic, social, and technical aspects of the discipline. A “heritage enhancement” (public history) track, which is professionally oriented, is offered on a work-study basis (two days per week of theoretical training at the university, three days per week of practical application of a enhancement project in a company, government agency, or association). This track mainly opens up emerging career opportunities that meet a strong social demand for the enhancement of a wide variety of heritage sites.
Information
Skills
- Analyze historical and geographical dynamics to understand a social context and spatial changes.
- Select relevant elements from a complex set of information to answer a question.
- Produce acceptable information in a scientific context.
- Communicate information to various audiences.
- Act individually and collectively within a work group.
Objectives
- The M2 research specialization aims to train history students in research, with an emphasis on the economic, social, and technical aspects of the discipline. It draws on the research areas of IDHES, a CNRS laboratory focused on the study of economic and social dynamics in society (URM 8533). Within this research unit, IDHES-Évry's specific contributions concern the history of businesses, labor, trade, mobility, cities, the environment, and natural heritage, linking practices and representations from antiquity to the present day.
- The program aims to consolidate a foundation of knowledge in history and social sciences and disciplinary expertise. Its main objective is to enable students to master the entire historical research process, responsibly and with relative autonomy. This involves developing an original research project, a topic, and a research question. It involves identifying appropriate sources, exploring them, and compiling a body of documentation. It enables students to acquire the skills to study different sources, including written and iconographic sources, oral testimonies, archaeological remains, architectural and museum heritage, etc. Students must problematize and contextualize their analyses, use bibliographic resources (including in foreign languages, such as English, which is taught as a specialized subject from the M1 level onwards), and then organize, structure, write, and defend a thesis of between 150 and 250 pages in accordance with the standards of the discipline. In professional terms, training units are offered for mastery of academic writing (theses, articles, etc.) and oral presentation (presentations, study days, conferences, etc.).
- The M2 specialization in “heritage enhancement” also aims to equip students with the historical skills needed to identify, analyze, and exploit data such as: “traditional” archives (manuscripts, printed documents, etc.), iconographic and audiovisual media, and interviews (oral archives). These skills enable students to produce: expert reports on the “CVs” of companies and sites in written and/or audiovisual form; works on “company history” and “memories of industrial territories”; employee memoirs; indexed documentary files and portfolios; interoperable databases; valuations of the tangible and intangible heritage of companies; 3D reconstructions and restitutions of sites, buildings, machines, and workstations; virtual models of spaces, places, processes, mechanisms, and gestures; documentary films to report on the various research results; promotional exhibitions, etc.
- These applied history skills will be put into practice in a professional context through work-study training, responding to the needs of the employing organization (company, local authority, association, etc.). Once the promotion project is complete, the student will produce and present a detailed, reflective report on their experience.
Career Opportunities
Career prospects
After a Master's + PhD: researcher or lecturer
Project officer environment
Design engineer in the research / scientific sector
cultural project manager
cultural mediator
Cultural enhancement manager
cultural communication manager/ community manager
production manager (cultural sector)
cultural events manager
Cultural outreach professions
Archivist
Records manager
Research or Design Engineer
Research professions
Lecturer (after a PhD)
Specialist Editor
Cultural journalist
Teacher (after the CAPES or 'agrégation' competitive exam)
Consultant
Librarian
Research officer
Marketing / Communication Officer
Head of Mission
Research fellow
Researcher
PhD candidate
Documentalist
Academic / Trainer
Academic / Teacher
1st grade teacher
Design engineer
Journalist
Mediator
Scientific mediator
Sports events officer for a local government
Further Study Opportunities
Master of Education and Teaching Professions
PhD
Specialised Master's
Administrative Examination
PhD thesis
Graduates can be recruited under private or public sector employment contracts, but can also take part in public sector competitive exams and professional examinations.
Associate professor in secondary schools and colleges
Associate professor in the 2-year preparatory course for a competitive exam, or at a university or a scientific institute
Head of project/mission
Research officer
PhD
Master of Political Studies
Design Engineer
Calendar
Admission Route
Capacity
Available Places
Target Audience and Entry Requirements
Level of Master 1 research in history or equivalent experience in heritage enhancement (VAE). Good level of written and oral expression. Regular reading, solid grounding in general and historical culture, intellectual curiosity, ability to synthesize and analyze, strong work capacity. Respect for the rules of historical method. Good command of information and communication technologies.
Application Period(s)
From 30/01/2026 to 25/04/2026
From 15/06/2026 to 13/07/2026
From 31/08/2026 to 15/09/2026
Supporting documents
Compulsory supporting documents
Motivation letter.
Professional project.
All transcripts of the years / semesters validated since the high school diploma at the date of application.
Certificate of French (compulsory for non-French speakers).
Curriculum Vitae.
Detailed description and hourly volume of courses taken since the beginning of the university program.
Document indicating the list of local M2 choices available here : https://urlz.fr/i3Lo.
Additional supporting documents
VAP file (obligatory for all persons requesting a valuation of the assets to enter the diploma).
Recommendation letters.
Supporting documents :
- Residence permit stating the country of residence of the first country
- Or receipt of request stating the country of first asylum
- Or document from the UNHCR granting refugee status
- Or receipt of refugee status request delivered in France
- Or residence permit stating the refugee status delivered in France
- Or document stating subsidiary protection in France or abroad
- Or document stating temporary protection in France or abroad.
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recent issues in historical research (1) | 4 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Methodology and epistemology of historical research | 4 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Methodology and epistemology of historical research | 4 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Public History | 4 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Humanities (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| Modern language 1 (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Natural heritage and sustainable resource management | 2 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Mastering expression (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 7.5 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Humanities (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| Modern language 1 (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Natural heritage and sustainable resource management | 2 | Semester 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Mastering expression (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 7.5 | ||||||||
| Digital tools for heritage enhancement | 1 | Semester 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research experience (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 21 | ||||||||
| Personal and professional project (2) | 2 | Semester 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Research progress seminar | 10 | Semester 1 | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research experience (3) | 2 | Semester 1 | 21 | ||||||||
| Personal and professional project (2) | 2 | Semester 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Séminaire de suivi d'apprentissage (1) | 2 | Semestre 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| Connaissance des métiers de la valorisation (2) | 3 | Semestre 1 | 40 | 6 | |||||||
| Connaissance du monde professionnel (2) | 4 | Semestre 1 | 50 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graduate School Intensive Training Week | 4 | Semester 2 | 21 | ||||||||
| Recent issues in historical research (2) | 2 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graduate School Intensive Training Week | 4 | Semester 2 | 21 | ||||||||
| Recent issues in historical research (2) | 2 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Humanities (4) | 2 | Semester 2 | 12 | ||||||||
| Modern language 1 (4) | 3 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Mastering expression (4) | 1 | Semester 2 | 6 | ||||||||
| External additional research seminar | 1 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Humanities (4) | 2 | Semester 2 | 12 | ||||||||
| Modern language 1 (4) | 3 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Mastering expression (4) | 1 | Semester 2 | 6 | ||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research thesis and defense | 13 | Semester 2 | |||||||||
| Research progress seminar (2) | 3 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Experiences from the world of research (4) | 1 | Semester 2 | |||||||||
| Subjects | ECTS | Semester | Lecture | directed study | practical class | Lecture/directed study | Lecture/practical class | directed study/practical class | distance-learning course | Project | Supervised studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experiences from the world of research (4) | 1 | Semester 2 | |||||||||
| Knowledge of the professions involved in heritage valueation (3) | 3 | Semester 2 | 40 | ||||||||
| Connaissance du monde professionnel (3) | 3 | Semestre 2 | 40 | ||||||||
| Apprenticeship follow-up seminar (2) | 3 | Semester 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Apprenticeship report and oral presentation | 8 | Semester 2 | |||||||||
Teaching Location(s)
Contact
-
Frank Georgi
-
Natacha GOURLAND