Presentation: IRD's operations cover a range of activities : partnership research, scientific co-publications with researchers from the intertropical and Mediterranean zone and support for research teams from these countries, provision of expertise and advice, participation in the International Development Agenda, and so on. In all its actions, the Institute ensures that its interdisciplinary, intersectoral and multi-partner strategy is complemented by excellence in disciplinary science. IRD's principal mission is to generate science centred on the intertropical and Mediterranean zone and founded on equitable scientific partnership with the higher education and research communities of the countries and regions concerned.
This mission has a dual purpose: 1) Contributing to advances in scientific knowledge in matters of sustainable development; 2) Helping to give development policies a better grounding in science.
Through its missions and expertise, the Institute has the capacity to rally scientific communities around sustainable development challenges and build bridges between research and development.
IRD thus helps scientific communities emerge in developing countries, strengthening and empowering them while also bringing them international recognition, through actions aligned with a resolute commitment to the strategy of partnership and equitable cooperation. By activating or encouraging the creation of coalitions of actors, IRD paves the way for its partners to tackle development challenges and helps them plan solutions. In each of its domains, the Institute strives to bring science to fuel international reflection on pressing issues, while calling on research actors to support the institutions concerned. The IRD acts by advocating and tirelessly implementing this principle of equitable scientific partnership.
Another intrinsic part of research activity is the dissemination of scientific information and the sharing of knowledge. These play a key role in advancing the competencies of scientific communities, and enhancing citizens' capacity to face the multiple challenges of sustainable development. IRD is vigorously committed to the "Open Science" policy, driven by France and the European Union. Free access to information is a priority for IRD and its partners in developing countries. The Institute believes that knowledge sharing means actively contributing to the dialogue between science and society. It therefore organises science events and exhibitions, presenting them throughout the world via the French cultural network. It also participates in flagship events, holds conferences, debates and workshops, puts on film screenings and provides innovative educational tools for young people in France and in partner countries of the Global South.
