Human sciences are the preferred domain of Viviane Seigneur. Sociologist, anthropologist, risk management consultant and psychotherapist ; Chamonix is her field of experimentation.
Doctor of « innovation and risk », she is a consultant for the national union of mountain guides, the Army, the Senate/JoCIF, for the minister of Sport and Youth and many others.
She has participated in many expeditions and missions throughout the world, always close to the mountain environment and its disciplines. She has also written numerous articles and other works, such as « Social-anthropology in the High Mountains, Ecology and Risk » (Harmattan).

For more info: viviane.seigneur@gmail.com

The Institute for Training and Research in Mountain Medicine (Ifremmont) is a French European centre of excellence in mountain medicine. It was created by a team of doctors from the department of mountain medicine at the Chamonix hospital (DMTM) in 2004.
Its headquarters is in the building of the Chamonix hospital. Emmanuel Cauchy, doctor and mountain guide was nominated as project coordinator by the Rhône-Alpes Regional authority and by the European Union. The Mont Blanc area inter-communal committee (SIVOM), the Haute-Savoie general council and the Mont-Blanc hospitals participate in its work.
The tasks which it aims to develop are:
- training,
- research,
- documentation,
- the formation of a medical observatory of mountain accidents,
- the development of long-distance medical intervention and the creation of an international emergency call-out centre such as exists for sea-farers (Centre for maritime medical consultation CCMM at Toulouse).

For more info: www.ifremmont.com

The departmental conservatory of natural spaces, Asters, has the task of preserving and promoting the natural heritage of Haute-Savoie. A benevolent structure with a technical mission, it has brought together science and skills in the natural environment for more than 25 years. It is involved in different tasks throughout the whole of Haute-Savoie: carrying out cataloguing and providing expertise in the natural environment and in species, working out management programmes for natural areas and projects, offering support and technical advice to communities and socio-professionals and finally the reception and education of the public. Asters is known as the managing organisation for the department's 9 nature reserves and for having reintroduced the Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture into Haute-Savoie.

The Conservatory receives financial support from Europe, from the government, from the Rhône-Alpes regional council and from the Haute-Savoie General council to enable it to carry out its tasks.
The current programmes of the Scientific Committee of the Nature Reserves of Haute-Savoie concern:

• Bio-indicator insects : Hoverflies
Two « inventories » have already been carried out on lawns and in the forest, between 2005 and 2007. The next step is to set up a regular follow-up procedure.

• High altitude lakes:
After a ten-year study of the physical and chemical parameters of the reserves’ lakes, a collection of more detailed studies on the nutrient levels and photosynthetic activity present in these lakes is due to begin in 2010.

As well as this, the management plan for the Nature Reserves of the Aiguilles Rouges , the Carlaveyron and the Bérard valley and a synthesis of existing information, particularly scientific, about the reserves, will be the main undertaking for Asters for the rest of 2009.

For more info: www.asters.asso.fr