The IRD around the world
Bondy
211
Belgium
Switzerland
France
Montpellier
286
(see insert)
Spain
United States
Marseille
219
China
Tunisia
Morocco
IRD Centre
Host structure *
Algeria
* Universities, research institutes, other bodies
Egypt
Mali
Guadeloupe
Mexico
Niger
Senegal
Martinique
Burkina Faso
French
Guiana
Colombia
Côte
d'Ivoire
Thailand
Ethiopia
Cameroon
Gabon
Peru
Vietnam
Benin
Ecuador
Kenya
Angola
Brazil
French
Polynesia
Laos
India
Seychelles
Indonesia
Vanuatu
Madagascar
Bolivia
Botswana
La Réunion
Chile
New
Caledonia
South Africa
Argentina
IRD centre or office
Local staff
Expatriate or seconded staff
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
Other form of presence
1 - 10
11 - 20
25 - 33
40 - 74
107
Staff
Staff numbers at 31/12/08
Source: Personnel department
Editorial
The IRD is a unique institution in the landscape of European research for development. Its task is to conduct
research in the South, for the South, with the South.
2008 saw three major changes at the Institute that will shape its future. The site policy was finalised, working
with our partners to establish scientific policy, geographical locations and research priorities. The Agence interétablissements de la recherche pour le développement (AIRD), in its second year of operation, was active in
bringing its founder members closer together and launched three new programs − two on infectious diseases
and one on demographic issues. Thirdly, the IRD head office moved to Marseille in September 2008 as planned,
updating its office administration system at the same time.
The Institute’s research structure was tightened up and is now based on 66 research units,
70% of which are joint units with universities and other research bodies. This allows us
to mobilise a wealth of scientific and human potential to study problems of importance
for Southern countries. This potential was further strengthened by two new partnership
arrangements: international joint research laboratories and joint chairs with Southern teams.
The quality of the research teams’ work is attested by its high and steadily growing number of
scientific publications, which have doubled in ten years. Nearly half of these are authored jointly with Southern
researchers. The Institute’s structures, its research units particularly, are now evaluated by an external body, the Agence
d’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur (AERES). The researchers are working on issues of major global
importance today: global warming, emerging diseases, biodiversity, access to water, migration, poverty, world hunger. The teaching and
training they provide empowers and enables Southern scientific communities.
Working on a range of themes, recognised Europe-wide for its research, operating in partnership with the South, with its networking and its structured presence in some fifty
countries, the IRD continued in 2008 to exemplify an original approach in research, consultancy and capacity-building activities for the benefit of countries who see science and
technology as one of the principal levers for their development.
In the latter part of 2009 the Institute will prepare new research programs and its next objectives contract with the government.
Jean-François Girard > Chairman
Michel Laurent > Director General
Annual report 2008 s
The IRD in a nutshell
An institute at the service
of Southern countries
Partnerships in France and
the world
Mobilising the scientific community
in support of the South
The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement is a French public
research institute that has been working in Southern countries for
over sixty years. It operates under the joint authority of the French
ministries responsible for research and overseas development.
In close collaboration with their colleagues in partner institutions,
858 researchers, 973 engineers and technicians* and 341 local
staff were at work in some fifty countries in 2008. They took part in
numerous national, European and international programs.
Through AIRD, the Agence inter-établissements de recherche pour
le développement, the IRD has the task of mobilising French and
European universities and major research bodies to work on priority
research issues for development in the South.
All its work – in research, consultancy and capacity-building
activities – is designed to assist the economic, social and cultural
development of Southern countries. The six priorities around
which the work hinges are poverty reduction, migration, emerging
diseases, climate change and natural hazards, access to water,
and ecosystems.
In September 2008 the IRD moved its head office to Marseille. It
has 30 other establishments including two in Metropolitan France
(Bondy and Montpellier), five in the French overseas territories (la
Réunion, French Guiana, Martinique, New Caledonia and French
Polynesia) and 23 in countries of the intertropical zone in Africa,
the Mediterranean, Asia and Latin America.
The founder members of AIRD are Cirad, the CNRS, the Conférence
des Présidents d’Université, Inserm, the Institut Pasteur and the
IRD.
*Engineers and technicians: this refers not to job content but to staff categories in
the French civil service.
2008
HIGHLIGHTS of the year
INSTITUTIONAL > Official opening of the new IRD head
office in Marseille by the Minister for Higher Education and
Research, 8 December > International partnerships
strengthened. In Senegal, new headquarters agreement
with the Republic of Senegal signed and agreement with
Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar renewed. In Morocco,
intergovernmental agreement and framework agreement
between the IRD and the Hassan II Academy of Science and
Technology signed > On 23 December, agreement signed
with INPE, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research,
on "scientific and technological cooperation in space
applications for sustainable development".
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
MIGRATION > Migration monitoring units set up in
Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.
POVERTY REDUCTION > Draft agreement between
the Hewlett Foundation, AIRD, the IRD and the AFD signed
on 22 January: €2.4 million for research on the impact of
migration and reproductive health on poverty reduction.
Key Figures 2008
€219 million budget > €194 million in State subsidies €25.6 revenue from research contracts 70% allocated to staff pay (including expatriation)
2 172 staff including 858 researchers, 973 engineers and technicians* and 341 local staff 38% of staff working outside Metropolitan France. Of these,
over 50% were in Africa or the Mediterranean countries 182 long missions (over two months) accomplished 66 research units including 49 joint units with
universities or other research institutions 1 100 articles listed on Web of Science or 1.9 articles authored per researcher per year 42% jointly authored with
Southern partners 260 articles in the human and social sciences (2007 data) 6 500 hours of teaching provided by IRD scientists two-thirds of which were
taught in Southern countries 750 doctoral students supervised including 450 Southern students 125 theses funded by the IRD 170 fellowships
granted to Southern scientists.
CLIMATE AND HAZARDS > Under the RIPIECSA fund,
West African research teams submit 25 projects on adapting
to climate change > Symposium on metal pollution and its
impact on environment, health and society, in Bolivia.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES > HIV: Triple recognition
for the IRD’s HIV/AIDS and Associated Diseases
laboratory. Recognised by WHO as a SupraNational
Reference Laboratory > IRD becomes a partner in
Infectiopôle Sud in Montpellier, Marseille and Nice.
ECOSYSTEMS AND NATURAL RESOURCES >
New Caledonian lagoons and kaya sacred forests in Kenya
added to Unesco world heritage list > An IRD researcher
at Sète appointed scientific moderator of the Eur-oceans
network (more than 500 researchers from 60 research
bodies in 25 countries) > Research into gene transfers
between cereal species (rice, maize and sorghum).
WATER > 13th World Water Congress in Montpellier,
1 to 4 September> CARAIBE-HYCOS program:
management and conservation of water resources
on the islands of the Caribbean.
Annual report 2008 s