Interdisciplinary courses at UB
In 2022-2024, the efforts of IPORA WP8 to build an interdisciplinary research-based training program were mainly concentrated at the University of Bordeaux, with the support of colleagues from the other three IPORA partner universities.
This included two activities:
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A course entitled "Africa's population by 2050: challenges and potentials, interdisciplinary perspectives"
This annual 5-days remote course has been taking place since May 2023 within the framework of the Bordeaux University Summer School. It welcomes African and European students, and has them work under the co-supervision of researchers from different disciplines. It includes interactive interdisciplinary courses, debates and tutored working groups. During the working groups, students work on themes in line with IPORA research axes.
- The 2023 session took place from May 20 to June 2 (and June 8 for final students’ presentations) 2023. It welcomed 21 participants (8 UB, 4 UFHB, 4 UIR, 1 AAU, 4 others).
- The 2024 session took place from June 24 to 28th It welcomed 14 participants (3 UB, 2 UFHB, 3 UIR, 1 AAU, 5 others).
Students and topics covered during the 2023 and 2024 sessions of the course led by IPORA during the UB summer school
| Student names | Student disciplines | Student counties | Tutors names and disciplines | Title of the tutored project |
| Philémon Bassan, Mahmadou Dembele, Maëlle Sodegla, Nina, Céline Huber, Lamine Diaby | Global Health, Political science, Economics, | Benin, Mali, France | Madina Doumbia (Physics), Olivier Marcy (Global Health) | Design a participative research project with children, adolescents and young adults to address health challenges in Africa to allow their generation to reach their full potential |
| Physics | Côte d’Ivoire | |||
| Hiba Guessous, Marie Yapo | Political science, Physics, | Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany | Thomas Thivillon (Economics), Tanguy Bernard (Economics) | Design a cost-effective quality certification system that enables small-scale rice Farmers to better sell their product to urban consumers in Côte d'Ivoire |
| Luisa Muting, Stéphane Ahoua, Alemaheyu Geletu | Economics, | Ethiopia | ||
| Josias Ouedraogo, Priscilia Antoinette, Fagdeba Bandjaguena, Marion Imboden, Adama Doumbia | Economics, | Burkina Faso, France, Togo, Switzerland, Côte d’Ivoire | Eric Rougier (Economics) | Reforming higher education to reduce unemployment among graduates and non graduates in Côte d’Ivoire / apprenticeship |
| Global Health, Political science, Education | ||||
| Joël Bonigni, Meron Gebere, Kadiatou Koita, Meriem Bahjaoui, Asrafil Kere | Global Health, Nutrition, | Benin, Ethiopia | Joanna Orne-Gliemann (Global Health), Marc d’Elbée (Economics) | Strengthening health systems in rural areas through digital health interventions. Challenges and opportunities for the Decide-TB project. Interdisciplinary insights |
| Political science, Economics | Mali, Morocco, Burkina Faso | |||
| Julien Guillot, Yosief Mekonnen, Leysa Maty Sall | Political science, Economics | France, Ethiopia, Senegal | Alemayehu Geletu (Economics) | Enhancing food security research-policy dialogue through maps of Ethiopia |
| Kouakou Philipps, Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah | Geography, Economics | Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia | Auriane Pajot (Global health) | Impact of Urbanization on Air Quality in African Cities: Case Study of the city of Abidjan |
| Arsène Ochou, Habia essi Sonia, Ward Karssemeijer, Rania Qarouach | Chemestry, Law, Management, Political science | Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Morocco, Netherlands | Thomas Thivillon (Economics) | E-cooking: pollute less, save more. The use of e-cooking as a replacement for traditional fuels in Abidjan |
| Ismaili Kenza, Sarah Coulibaly, Frederic Ello | Global health | Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco | Céline Thiriot (Political science), Damien Girollet (Economics) | Under what conditions can access to the malaria vaccine be made sustainable? |
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A course entitled "Contemporary Transitions in Africa: Interdisciplinary Approaches"
This annual 6-month course (October to March) has been taking place since October 2022. It is organized by distance learning, and leads to a University Certificate delivered by the "Collège des Écoles Doctorales de l'Université de Bordeaux". It is co-supported by IPORA and by the Africa Graduate Program (Africa GP) at UB. Teachers are from three UB and Sciences Po Bordeaux Master programs: global health, development economics and political sciences. The course welcomes 12 students per year, originating from the three Masters. It includes:
- Disciplinary courses: Migration in Africa (Political Sciences); Challenges of urbanization in Africa (Development Economics); Health and urbanization (Public Health).
- Interdisciplinary tutored projects in line with IPORA research priorities.
Students and topics covered during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 sessions of the course "Contemporary Transitions in Africa: Interdisciplinary Approaches" at UB
| Students Names | Students discipline | Students Country | Tutors Name and discipline | Title of the tutored project |
| Marina Dimitriou, Carla Monin, Emilie Pauchet | Economics, Global Health, Political Sciences | Greek | Claire Gondard-Delcoix (Economics), Jérome Porta (Law) | Evolution of the dynamics of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: comparative analysis of the Malagasy and Senegalese social insecurity regimes |
| France | ||||
| France | ||||
| Bakary Cisse, Housna Hassani, Ramatoulaye Fall | Global Health | Côte d’Ivoire | Joanna Orne-Gliemann (Global Health), Marc d’Elbée (Economics) | Design an interdisciplinary questionnaire to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a childhood TB diagnosis intervention. |
| Economics | Morocco | |||
| Senegal | ||||
| Alice Cardon, Nora Legonin, Dethie Seydi | Economics, Global Health, Political Sciences | Ethiopia France | Eric Rougier (Economics) | Raising awareness around Water-Sanitation-Hygiene projects |
| Germany | ||||
| Alyssa Le, Annick Guié, Naia Messié | Economics, Global Health, Political Sciences | Côte d’Ivoire | Tanguy Bernard (Economics) | Food-policies in Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire |
| Ethiopia | ||||
| France | ||||
| Tidjani Abakar, Priscilia Antoinette, Brenda Bouka Richard | Economics, Global Health, | Congo | Joanna Orne-Gliemann (Global health), Marc d’Elbée (Economics) | Interdisciplinarité et Indicateurs |
| France | ||||
| Tchad | ||||
| Amine Chabane, Adama Oumarou Wone, Ikram Osrhir, Pauline Vachon | Economics, Global Health, | France | Olivier Marcy (Global Health), Delphine Boutin (Economics), Chishala Chabala (Clinical research) | Post-discharge mortality in Zambia children; magnitude, socio-economic and biomedical risk factors and interventions to reduce it - an interdisciplinary literature review |
| Togo | ||||
| Sébastien Cuenot, Nadine Fares, Léa Mérignan, Hugo Malo | Economics, Political Sciences | France | Claire Gondard-Delcroix (Economics), | S’accommoder de la professionnalisation. Les arrangements entre travail reproductif, travail productif et travail informel |
| Jade Frappier, Issa Abakar Mahamat, Hervé Matondo Phuna, Archange Tekele | Economics, Global Health, | Chad | Maguelonne Loubelo-Chevalier (Develoment), Eric Rougier (Economics) | Électricité verte, services essentiels et sécurité alimentaire, districts au Congo. Enquête & sensibilisation auprès des femmes et jeunes |
Strengthening the offer of interdisciplinary training in other universities
In 2024, an inventory and critical analysis of interdisciplinarity training needs, opportunities and offer among IPORA partners was conducted within the framework of a Master internship (Daniela Cernat, see Table 8 on page 26). This mapping exercise has fostered new training initiatives in each partner university, with several specific seminars organized in Quarter 3 of 2004.
- At UFHB: Interdisciplinary seminar on the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (26-27 November 2024-: 2-day face to face workshop for PhD students in economy, sociology, medicine, agronomy (one health), veterinary schools.
- At UIR: Preparation of an agreement between the UIR and the Climate Change Competence Centre (4C) for the creation of a series of interdisciplinary MOOCs on climate change adaptation, the green economy and sustainable cities in Africa.
- At UAA: Interdisciplinary training organized by the Department of Economics on the Water, Energy, Food Nexus for post-graduate students, third week of December 2024.
- This work will continue in 2025 with the support of an IPORA post-doctoral fellow in the process of being recruited.
Strengthening the collaboration between "programs of excellence " at UB
Africa GP is another "program of excellence" of the UB. Africa GP is coordinated by researchers from three IPORA founding teams, GHiGS, BSE and LAM. The collaboration between IPORA and the Africa GP includes: (i) enrolling IPORA students (at Master and Doctoral level) within the Africa GP program, thereby providing opportunities for networking with other UB students, international mobility and scientific collaboration; and (ii) inviting Master 2 level students following the Africa GP to contribute to current or future interdisciplinary research projects, by participating in working group tutored by IPORA researchers during the BSS and/or through internships contributing to on-going research.
