Given the priority of research at the school, considerable human and technical resources have been mobilized. The five research departments comprise in total 110 permanent or associated faculty members, 43 of whom have the habilitation to supervise research (HDR), . In addition there are 90 doctoral students as well as 11 research assistants and post-docs. These efforts have been justly rewarded: 22 PhD theses defended in 2007, more than a hundred publications – books , research collaboration, articles in national and international journals, and even more presenttions at international workshops and conferences. In their respective fields of excellence, the research teams in Nantes have built an international reputation.