The National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) is a government-funded research organisation, under the administrative authority of France's Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Founded in 1939 by governmental decree, the CNRS aims to evaluate and carry out research capable of advancing knowledge and providing social, cultural, and economic benefits for society; contribute to the transfer and promotion of research results; develop scientific information; support research training; participate in the analysis of the national and international scientific climate and its potential for evolution in order to design a national policy. As the largest basic research organisation in Europe, the CNRS encompasses all fields of knowledge through its ten Institutes, including the Institute of Chemistry (INC), and three national Institutes.

The CNRS encourages collaboration between specialists from various disciplines, opening up new fields of enquiry to meet social and economic needs. It has developed interdisciplinary programmes that bring together several laboratories as well as other research institutions and industry. Interdisciplinary research covers the life sciences, engineering and systems, the humanities and social sciences, physics, Earth sciences and astronomy, information sciences, nuclear and particle physics, mathematical sciences and ecology and the environment.

The CNRS takes part in the LFP sector through the world-renowned Laboratoire réactivité et chimie des solides (LRCS - UMR6007).