IRD’s action has been commended by the European institutions, which under H2020 gave the QUARITE project on infant health in Senegal and Mali led by Alexandre Dumont, CEPED, a prize of €1,000,000 (H2020 Birthday Prize). Similarly, Florin Grigorescu, Inserm researcher hosted at IRD and responsible for the Nutrition-Genomes team at Nutripass, is one of the winners of Stars of Europe, a trophy recognising researchers for their European engagement. F. Grigorescu coordinates the MEDIGENE project, committed to understanding what genetic and environmental factors influence insulin resistance syndrome in Mediterranean populations.
In June 2017, the major H2020 project NOPOOR delivered its conclusions after five years of action and research on the dimensions of poverty in several regions of the world. In particular, this project made it possible to use research results to define policies for social assistance, education, access to public services and migrant integration.
For the European Development Days in June, the 4p1000 initiative was promoted during a debate organised by IRD on “soils and agriculture in the face of climate change”. Participants included the European Commission and an agro-ecology researcher from Burkina Faso.
In October 2017 in Brussels, IRD held a workshop on climate services in West Africa, highlighting its privileged partnership with the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) and thus positioning their joint research within the high-level scientific dialogue between Europe and Africa.
In November 2017, IRD was heavily involved in the African Union/European Union Summit by co-organising several side events in Abidjan, to promote its work on the issues of governance, democracy, sexual health, climate services and migration. IRD has also supported the Abidjan Appeal and pleaded (by amending the political declaration adopted coming out of the Summit) for increased funding for research in Africa as an essential condition for the development of the continent.