International
Because facing up to global challenges requires knowledge without borders, INRAE is committed to international research. Our researchers work with the world's most outstanding and dynamic research teams, on all five continents, and on all scales from global to local. These international projects result in a large number of co-publications, as well as exchanges of scientists, students and scientific know-how.
Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda
INRAE's numerous publications in the fields of agriculture, food and the environment have placed the institute among the world's top 10 institutions on 5 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN's 2030 Agenda:
- SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- SDG 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
INRAE also collaborates on research on the SDGs with international organizations: with several United Nations agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and other intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is INRAE's second academic partner outside Europe, after the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
INRAE co-publishes with over 170 countries
The Institute's international co-publications with at least one foreign research organization represent more than half of INRAE's publications. These co-publications have grown strongly in recent years, reflecting the increasing internationalization of the research topics addressed by INRAE. The map below highlights the intensity of our international collaborations, with more than 170 countries involved to date.
Strengthening our partnerships: the latest agreements
A global network of partnerships with leading universities and research organizations
INRAE assists its scientific teams in structuring essential partnerships using long-term cooperation instruments (5 to 10 years) supported by the Institute.
- International associated laboratories (LIAs) are laboratories "without walls" that bring together a foreign partner, one or more INRAE research units and partners from higher education or other French organizations to implement joint projects of excellence;
- International research networks (2RIs) bring together a larger number of institutions from one or more partner countries;
- Joint Linkage Calls (JLCs) are cross-mobility projects for young researchers, which enable new collaborations to emerge within the framework of agreements signed with research organizations, sometimes with the support of funding agencies.
A driving force for international research initiatives
INRAE helps coordinate and supports intergovernmental research initiatives such as the Global Wheat Initiative and the Global Research Alliance, as well as international research programmes such as AgMIP.
The Institute is also a driving force behind proposals for International Research initiatives (IRI), in line with its INRAE 2030 strategic roadmap. The aim is to work with scientific partners to mobilize national, European and international efforts to build a research agenda, and then to support ministries in the development of international initiatives including a research pillar.
6 international research initiatives
Soils and Climate Change
Launched in 2018 as part of the 4 per 1000 initiative on 'soils for food security and climate', this programme has been developed through several European projects (CIRCASA, FACCE JPI, EJP soils) and is preparing the launch of an international research consortium (IRC) on organic carbon in soils through the Horizon Europe ORCaSa project launched in November 2022.
Agroecological crop protection
This is an international research, innovation and capacity-building network to develop agroecological crop health strategies, promote biological regulation in and around agroecosystems, reduce the use of pesticides and act on the levers that contribute to agricultural sustainability.
Agroecological transition under water stress in the Mediterranean region for sustainable food systems
This initiative, launched in 2019 with French and North African partners, focuses on two drivers of agroecological transition: water stress and food transition. The first concrete action was a research school held in Kairouan, Tunisia, at the end of 2022 at the initiative of INRAE, in association with IRESA, CIRAD and IRD, which brought together scientists from Algeria, France, Morocco and Tunisia. The aim was to co-construct interdisciplinary research questions at the interface between (1) the challenges of agroecological transitions, (2) sober management of water resources, and (3) healthier and more sustainable food systems; as well as to work collectively on the concept of a Territorial Innovation Laboratory - LIT.
Gut microbiota and health
It is based on two European projects (MicrobiomeSupport CSA and CSA International Human Microbiome CSA) and the InterAcademicgroup Microbiome at international level. The aim is to mobilize microbiome sciences at an international level to build a strategic research agenda centred on the food-microbiota-host links as a major lever for action in terms of human health.
Adapting forests and agroforests to climate change
This is an international network analysing the impacts of climate change on forests and ways of adapting, taking into account uncertainties about the future climate, forest management and the diversity of forest ecosystem services. Another commitment, structured as part of the 'One Forest Summit' (Libreville, March 2023), concerns the conservation of tropical forests in the Congo Basin, with a view to developing integrated research on carbon stocks and biodiversity with African partners and all French organizations.
Emerging diseases - zoonoses
This IRI led to the development of the PREZODE (PREventing ZOonotic Disease Emergence) initiative with CIRAD and IRD. This international initiative, which now includes 25 countries and more than 200 science-based members and was launched at the One Planet Summit in January 2021, aims to limit the risks of emergence of diseases of animal origin through prevention and early detection. It is part of a One Health approach.
Contact us for more information: international@inrae.fr
