Professor of History and Director the IDHES-Evry Research Laboratory,
University of Paris-Saclay and University Evry
History of management, Auto Industry, material and visual culture, automation, Innovation, Labor History, History of technology, Labor-Management Relations, Business and Economic History, economic groups
Alain P. MICHEL is professor of history at Paris-Saclay University on the Evry university site, specialized in Contemporary Business and Technology History. He is director of the history research laboratory – the Evry division of the IDHES (Economic and Social Historical Institutions and Dynamics) a joint research unit with the CNRS (UMR 8533). He is also associated researcher at the CAK (Centre Alexandre Koyré / EHESS, UMR 8560) specialized in history of technology and sciences. He is a member of the steering committee of the World Economic History Conference : « Ressources » to be held in Paris in July 2022.
His fields of research are oriented in four complementary directions. First, business history, through a social approach of automobile production technologies of the 20th century. Second a biographical and prosopography analysis of the restructuring of the social group of engineers during the industrial upheavals of the contemporary era : especially around the case study of Pierre Bézier (1910-1998) at the Renault automobile company. In parallel, an analysis of visual documents as firsthand sources on the history of labor and its representation. Last a study on the way computer models and multimedia instruments can be used as historical interpretation tools.
