Sustainable development goals

Scientific stopovers on the coastline of the Indian Ocean

Imagine yourself travelling along the coasts of the Western Indian Ocean… From the Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar, via the long beaches of Mozambique and the Reunion Island idyllic lagoons, to the mangroves of Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya. These shores do not only inspire tourists forced into...

WIOMSA and IRD: a close cooperation for marine science

Dr. Jacqueline Uku, WIOMSA President, says it herself: “IRD has been a good friend, for a very long time.” The Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association indeed has extensive links with IRD in the region and offers a great support to marine researchers.

A performance mixing science and dance highlights the vulnerability of migrant women in Laos

Raising awareness among decision-makers and the general public about social and health vulnerabilities of migrant women in Laos through the diffusion of the artistic performance "Live With it" built on scientific data.

Laotian project PHYDELAO selected by AUF to continue its fight against the transmission of COVID19

Competing with nearly 2000 projects from 79 countries around the world, the Laotian project PHYDALEAO (PHYto-Desinfectants against the airborne spread of SArs-COV2) has just been selected to be funded by a special fund of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) devoted to the fight against...

"Nyota Ya Mikoko": Launch of the Kenyan mangrove research vessel

Nyota ya Mikoko, the Kenyan mangrove research vessel, was officially launched on July 26th 2020 during The International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem.

Researchers build first AI tool capable of identifying individual birds

New research demonstrates for the first time that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to train computers to recognise individual birds, a task humans are unable to do. The research is published in the British Ecological Society journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Ebola Survivors Present Severe Immune System Abnormalities Two Years After Recovery

Four years after the end of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and as it continues to wreak havoc in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the scientific community wonders about the after-effects that may remain among survivors. To learn more, researchers from Inserm and Université Paris-Est Créteil at...

New grant for a study on transboundary haze pollution and BRI in Southeast Asia

The Henry Luce Foundation Initiative for Southeast Asia, has awarded a four-year research grant to a team led by University of Hawai’i and IRD to study transboundary air pollution and the socio-ecological Impact of China’s BeltRoad Initiative in the Mekong Sub-Region. This grant complements the...

Call for proposals: PHC SIAM Mobility programme 2020-2021

To encourage outstanding scientific exchanges between Thai and French higher education institutions and research bodies, and to develop sustainable collaborative research activities, the Joint Franco-Thai Committee launches the present Call for proposals.

Regional focus: Infectious diseases in the centre of the scientists’ target

Their names are Florian, Muriel, Andres, Veerle, Louis-Clément... Each morning, a community of IRD researchers working in Southern, Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean wakes up with a simple idea in mind: fighting communicable diseases which have significant effects on the region’s populations.

Sustainability science: a priority of IRD governance

Valérie Verdier, President and CEO of IRD, presented the changes in its governance to the Board of Directors on June 26, 2020. She reaffirmed the priority of Science, as part of an equitable partnership with the South and French Overseas Territories, and the increasingly important role of...

Citizen science: a great tool for socio-ecological studies

A new study shows the multiple insights that citizens bring while participating in an ecological assessment. Involving the local population ensures both the creation of reliable data and a greater public support for scientific and conservation projects.

Kenya: Science carries on during pandemic, to maintain insect breeding

When the country implemented a national lockdown and travel restrictions due to the current health crisis, Paul-André Calatayud and his kenyan colleagues had to find a way to ensure that their research and laboratory work could keep going. They indeed cannot stop their activity as they breed insects...

Covid-19: our partners at the forefront of the fight - Zimbabwe

Numerous scientific partners of IRD, in France and in the countries of the Global South, are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, through actions of research, in the field and in support of public decision. Meet Prof. Pfukenyi, from the University of Zimbabwe.

[Meet a scientist] Moagabo Ragoasha: once an IRD scholarship holder, now an oceanographer in the SA-France network

Moagabo Ragoasha has just defended her PhD and is now a qualified South African physical oceanographer. Thanks to the IRD scholarship program, she had the opportunity to share her PhD time between France and South Africa. Let’s have a chat with her so she can share her experience with us!

Report argues for land redistribution to create new jobs in agriculture in South Africa

Bruno Losch, political economist at Cirad based at the University of the Western Cape, contributed to this study highlighting the possibilities of job creations if South Africa chooses the path of a pro-poor land reform.

Zimbabwe: Research carries on, from laboratory to remote working

Florian Liégeois, an IRD virologist, has been hosted by the University of Zimbabwe, in Harare, for the past few months. The country having implemented lockdown regulations since last April, he and his partners needed a new organisation so that their research on coronaviruses continues.

Roundtable on Air Pollution

Air pollution by fine particles is a global issue. It is the main health risk and the main cause of non-communicable diseases, the second largest contributor to global warming (just after CO2), and with quantities of fine particles arriving in the ocean more than twice the amount of plastic waste...

Covid-19: improving knowledge on coronaviruses carried by bats to protect human populations

IRD, Cirad and the University of Zimbabwe, long-standing research partners in animal and zoonotic diseases, launched a new project on the genetic diversity of coronaviruses found in Zimbabwean bats.

COVID-19: Mask distribution to community-based partners in Lamu

More than 5000 masks were distributed to the partners of the Mikoko Project on mangrove conservation in Lamu.