The Festival de Théorie is an initiative that aims at fostering interdisciplinary research activity in the field of magnetised plasmas – including controlled fusion, space and astrophysics, with connections to fluid mechanics and geophysics, among others. These meetings are organized in July every odd year in Aix-en-Provence (France) since 2001. They usually gather 25 to 35 international experts.

The objective is three fold:

1. Presenting the most recent results in the field and promoting new ideas.
2. Triggering and/or pursuing interdisciplinary collaboration on common research projects.In this regard, it is expected that the participants cover a broad spectrum of expertise.
3. Providing educational training for PhD and post-doc students.

In 2017, the main topic of the ninth meeting of the Festival de Théorie is "Avalanching and Self-Organization in Plasmas: 30 Years of BTW**.

It will last 4 weeks and will be organised in two parts:

• June 26th - July 7th: primary workshop, similar to the previous festivals.
• July 10th - July 20th: second part of the festival = Festival Projects. There, 1 or 2 Festival Fellows will work on a Research Project under the supervision of a Research Faculty member.