The French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, or ''Institut de Recherche pour le Développement'' (IRD), is a French science and technology establishment under the joint supervision of the French Ministries of
Higher Education and Research and
Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
. It operates internationally from its headquarters in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, and two metropolitan centres of
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
and
Bondy.
It was created as the ''Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre-mer'' or ORSTOM (Overseas Scientific and Technical Research Office) in 1943.
Missions
The IRD institute has three main missions: research on
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
and
French overseas territories development, overseas consultancy and training.
It conducts
scientific programs contributing to the sustainable development of the countries of the South, with an emphasis on the relationship between man and the environment.
[
]
Since 1955, the Institute has maintained an institutional archive to preserve and disseminate its scientific productions. The Institute develops an open access policy for its documents. The archive currently contains over 96,000 documents and constitutes the IRD documentary collection (FDI "Fonds Documentaire IRD").
Organisation
The IRD's scientific activities are organised through five scientific departments coordinated by a deputy director for science:
* Dynamics of the Internal and Surface of Continents (DISCO);
* Ecology, Biodiversity and Functioning of Continental Ecosystems (ECOBIO);
* Oceans, Climate and Resources (OCEANS);
* Health and Societies (SAS);
* Societies and Globalization (SOC).
IRD has established new scientific cooperation bodies in recent years that promote co-construction of research projects.
These structures provide funding and autonomy to associated young research teams (JEAI), Mixed International Laboratories (LMI), Mixed International Units (UMI), and International Research Laboratory Networks (GDRI). Additionally, these programs encourage collaborations between countries in the global South.
Associated people
A number of notable researchers are or have been associated with Institut de recherche pour le développement, including:
*
Jean Marie Bosser - botanist and agronomical engineer
*
André Briend - pediatric nutritionist
*
Jean-Philippe Chippaux - snakebite and tropical medicine expert
*
Jean-Paul Gonzalez - virologist
*
Khadijetou Lekweiry - virologist
*
Michel Luc - nematologist
*
Denis Vidal - anthropologist
See also
*
Developing country
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...
*''
Bactris nancibaensis''
*
Serer people
The Serer people (''Serer language, Serer proper'': Seereer or Sereer) are a West African ethnoreligious groupGastellu, Jean-Marc, ''Petit traité de matrilinarité. L'accumulation dans deux sociétés rurales d'Afrique de l'Ouest'', Cahiers ORST ...
*
Mistrals
References
External links
Official websiteVideos from Canal IRD Web TV
IRD on-line scientific library (37,000 documents for downloading)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Institut de recherche pour le developpement
Government agencies of France
Research institutes in France
Organizations based in Marseille