Introducing IPORA

Why, Who, When

IPORA is an international transdisciplinary research network, created to study the major challenges facing the African continent and to find concrete solutions.

The network was set up in 2023 by teams of researchers from universities in Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, France and Morocco, working in the fields of economics, sociology, political science, public health, anthropology, agri-food science, law and environmental science.

The network is open to civil society stakeholders, policy-makers and researchers from all countries and disciplines who wish to create alliances to carry out research that benefits populations and advances the concept of interdisciplinarity.

Mission and Vision

Africa is undergoing multiple multidimensional changes, including rapid population growth, profound transformations in lifestyles and consumption patterns, massive climatic, economic, technological and environmental changes, considerable internal and external migration, unprecedented rates of urbanization, and an epidemiological transition marked by a combination of high-prevalence communicable and non-communicable diseases.

These upheavals have implications for public policies aimed at raising living standards, improving health, fostering environmentally-friendly development and consolidating governance. The scale and speed of these changes, and the challenges they pose, justify researchers from different disciplines working together to better understand the processes at work and to be more useful to decision-makers.

IPORA is a young network, eager to develop while taking the time to lay solid foundations that will enable it to operate over the long term and to deepen each of its chosen research areas

Solid foundations means :

• Good international partnership practices (shared governance, transparency, equity),
• Good research practices (compliance with ethical, regulatory and methodological standards),
• A lucid analysis of asymmetrical geostrategic interests
• A thoughtful approach to interdisciplinarity

Good Partnership Charter

The IPORA network brings together partners from a wide range of countries and professional backgrounds. Its members are aware of the richness of this diversity, but also of the weight of the history of colonization and the challenges of creating an international network in a globalized world experiencing climatic, environmental, economic, energy and political crises. This tense context means that we need to be more demanding than ever when it comes to partnership practices.

At IPORA, this requirement is enshrined in a charter that network members undertake to respect.

Funding and Good management practices

IPORA has two types of funding:

• Research funds obtained through international calls for tenders by IPORA partners who have thought about a question, drafted a project and submitted an application together.
• Structural funds to finance network activities, fellowships and seed projects.

To support the establishment of IPORA, the University of Bordeaux (France) has pledged structural funding of 900,000 euros per year for 4 years, as part of its policy of supporting "Grands Programmes de Recherche". To scale up and finance new Master, PhD and post-doctoral grants, or new seed projects, IPORA is looking for additional support. 

The funds obtained are managed by the university or para-university institutions to which the IPORA teams are affiliated, which have long experience of managing projects in line with international standards and the requirements of funding bodies.