Nowadays, our world faces immense cross-border challenges - most of them being covered by the UN 2030 SDGs - that cannot be tackled without science. The CNRS aims to find solutions to these emerging issues, together with its international partners. International cooperation is indeed a priority for CNRS and we actively engage in order to develop strategic partnerships with foreign universities and research centres. These partnerships are supported across the world by a network of 10 CNRS regional representative offices. Located in Beijing, Brussels, Melbourne, New Delhi, Ottawa, Pretoria, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington, they play an essential role in the CNRS strategy.
This international projection of French research potential, and of the CNRS in particular, constitutes an important contribution to French influence abroad. The CNRS has adopted multiple international approaches - from growing involvement in the race for the performance of research infrastructures, to the participation in European programs for research and development, and to the global internationalization of both its programs and workforce - leading to an increase in the rate of co-publications, a key indicator of the level of international integration of the scientific sector.
For a decade now, the CNRS has been building solid partnerships with Oceanian countries and in December 2021, the CNRS has opened a representative office dedicated to the Oceania region. The office is located in Melbourne, hosted by the University of Melbourne and supported by the Government of Victoria and its agency Invest Victoria
The CNRS has also set up structured cooperation mechanisms to strengthen its presence worldwide, with international research laboratories (80 in 37 countries that offer a long-term perspective to the organisation’s activity), International Research Projects (IRP), networks (IRN) and Emerging Actions (IEA).
In total, there are about 30 programs running in the Oceania region.
The implementation of new cooperation activities with Australia, New-Zealand and nearby oceanic countries is the expected outcome of this opening, and the energy transition, artificial intelligence, engineering, marine sciences, biodiversity and climate are some of the sectors selected by our institution for future bilateral cooperative research.
The Melbourne office is dedicated to promoting the CNRS in the Oceania region, supporting existing collaborations and building new ones, ensuring that Australia and New Zealand remain major partners. The area of competence of the Melbourne office includes Australia, New-Zealand, French Pacific territories (New Caledonia, French Polynesia), but also Vanuatu, Tonga, Papua New-Guinea and Fiji.
Source: CNRS
