IRD presence in Africa

IRD presence in Africa

The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in France has made developing science in Africa one of its missions. The institution, which was established during the Second World War, has a strong presence in Francophone Africa with centres in Egypt, Morocco, Madagascar, Tunisia and Senegal. However, the organisation also has centres in South Africa and Kenya.

The IRD, which operates on an annual budget of 220 million Euros, offers support and training, and conducts research in focus areas that include global warming, emerging diseases, biodiversity, access to water, migration, poverty and world hunger. About 34 million Euros is spent in Africa.

Its work in Africa includes collaborative projects such as the biological control of pests, which the IRD is jointly implementing with the Kenyan-based African Insect Science for Food and Health (icipe). It also issues competitive calls annually. The calls include the New IRD partner team (Jeune équipe associée à l'IRD or JEAI) that seeks to strengthen collaborative research in developing countries. The project is a relevant one for Africa, where scientists are said to hardly know each other.

The IRD also has a PhD grants programme that helps researchers below the age of 40 from developing countries to become members of the scientific communities in their home countries.

IRD recently launched a call for proposals for the IRD-STDF. STDF, Egypt's Science and Technology Fund, was created in 2006 to mobilise funding for research. Approximately two million Euros will be made available annually in the next four years to finance joint research programmes between French and Egyptian teams, chairs of excellence and mobility grants in environment and water technologies, agriculture and food, and health and life sciences.

For further details about the IRD and its work in Africa or in the developing countries, please contact Jean Albergel, the organisation's representative in Kenya on Jean.Albergel@ird.fr or +254 20 722 4790. Also visit its website on http://en.ird.fr/the-ird or http://www.ird.fr/.