From April 1^st to April 4^th 2025, the University of Bordeaux and Sciences Po Bordeaux hosted the "Strengthening the Africa-Europe Academic Partnership to Improve Intersectoral Governance’" (SAEAP)* conference, an event that brought together researchers, policy makers and civil society actors to discuss the challenges of the Africa-Europe academic partnership. The event provided an opportunity for the IPORA network (Interdisciplinary Policy-Oriented Research on Africa) to hold its general assembly, marking a major step in its development.

Founded in 2023 by the signing of a consortium agreement, IPORA is based on the collaboration of four founding universities: Bordeaux, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Rabat (Morocco), as well as Sciences Po Bordeaux and the other co-supervisors of the research teams involved: the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Bordeaux Montaigne University, the CNRS and Inserm.

From a Major Research Programme to an intercontinental network

Its ambition: to structure a sustainable and inclusive network to meet the contemporary challenges of Africa by combining interdisciplinary research and co-construction with local actors.

Initially, IPORA was one of the seven Major Research Programmes (GPR - Grands programmes de recherche) of the University of Bordeaux certified in 2021. As such, it has received state funding for a period of eight years within the framework of the Investments for the Future Programme (PIA) managed by the university as part of the France 2030 plan, including 3.8 million euros for the first four years.

"From the outset, this GPR has played a driving role in the emergence of this inter-university, multi-institutional and multi-country network, designed to last beyond its funding," explains Xavier Anglaret, Inserm researcher at the Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre (BPH - Inserm and University of Bordeaux unit) and co-leader of the GPR at the University of Bordeaux. "The university is currently its main funder, but not its leader. The network is governed by a general assembly, which includes a representative from each of the research teams involved and from the founding academic institutions. In this respect, this GPR stands out from the others."

It was even a founding element, for Tanguy Bernard, professor of economics at the Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE - a CNRS, INRAE and University of Bordeaux unit) and co-leader of IPORA, who emphasises that this shared governance is not just a theoretical principle. "The consortium agreement, signed after a long process, required an unprecedented approach. The University of Bordeaux agreed to finance a network of which it is not the centre, with funds allocated directly to the partner universities. This choice was essential to establish a truly horizontal relationship, without Bordeaux centralising financial decisions."

He continues, "The idea for this network stemmed from the observation that many researchers from different disciplines at the University of Bordeaux were working in partnership with Africa, but without knowing each other. At the same time, the African partner universities noted that the disciplines were too compartmentalised and that an interdisciplinary approach should be encouraged. However, issues related to public policy are interconnected and require a cross-disciplinary approach." Structured around the pre-existing networks of the researchers involved, IPORA makes it possible to strengthen cooperation between the founding universities and to gradually expand its scope to other institutions and partners.

At the service of public policy

Currently, some thirty research projects are structured in IPORA around five thematic axes, explains Xavier Anglaret, always with the aim of working in the long term.

• Food and nutrition systems, with projects on food security and agricultural value chains;
• Global health and inequalities, particularly on childhood tuberculosis and access to healthcare in rural areas, and childbirth in traditional settings;
• Pollution and health, with studies on the impacts of domestic and urban pollution;
• Social protection and economic justice, to analyse social protection reforms and their impact on the reduction of inequalities;
• Epistemic communities, which question the construction of knowledge and the dynamics of academic partnerships between North and South.

These axes illustrate IPORA's philosophy of intersectoral governance, interdisciplinarity, public policy focus, change of funding scale, etc.

For example, the first axis, concerning food security, encompasses agricultural production, processing systems, access to food, nutritional composition and, by extension, nutritional health. "This subject is emblematic of IPORA, because it illustrates the need for a cross-cutting and intersectoral vision. Until now, researchers and institutional actors often worked on specific segments, in collaboration with a given ministry – whether it be health, agriculture or finance. However, it is by adopting a global approach that we can truly understand the challenges of the food system as a whole. We are working together to create a more comprehensive story!"

Since its creation, the pollution axis has undergone significant development. Initially focused on domestic pollution, particularly caused by combustion ovens inside homes in Africa, this research axis has expanded to include urban pollution, a major issue for African cities. In the beginning, the work carried out by atmospheric physicists in Abidjan focused on environmental aspects. Gradually, thanks to collaborations within IPORA, a health component was integrated, particularly around the impacts of domestic pollution on children's health. In the second four-year period, the pollution axis will be broadened to include outdoor pollution, thus integrating a broader vision of urban environmental and health issues.

This approach reflects the philosophy of IPORA, emphasises Xavier Anglaret: combining interdisciplinarity, diagnosis and intervention. Indeed, beyond understanding the phenomena thanks to expertise and scientific data, IPORA also implements interventional approaches. "It's the practical side of research!" This involves experimenting with concrete solutions, such as steering public policies aimed at subsidising less polluting domestic equipment. These interventions are then evaluated using rigorous methods, including randomised clinical trials.

The epistemic communities axis focuses on how science is constructed and how researchers communicate across disciplines with the need for a common language. This axis is based on the observation of IPORA's interdisciplinary network, including a thesis dedicated to this question. It also explores topics such as the governance of public policies, climate migration and the evolution of norms related to decoloniality. This is a central issue in scientific cooperation between African and European countries. It concerns not only the economic or political legacy of colonialism, but also the way in which science itself has been shaped. A movement of reflection that has been active for some twenty years, led in particular by Sciences Po Bordeaux, questions these dynamics. During the IPORA conference, a round table on the first day brought together partners from the founding countries to share their experiences of cooperation in a context of asymmetrical resources.

To avoid any criticism of its interventionist approach, IPORA has opted for shared governance involving researchers from the four founding countries. The aim is to guarantee balanced partnership practices that respect historical and cultural contexts. With the diversity of the origins of the institutions involved, IPORA is also positioning itself as a "real-time laboratory" for observing and experimenting with scientific and collaborative approaches.

Training future field partners

IPORA's pilot funding plays a key role in enabling the exploration of different issues and the production of essential data for the submission of more ambitious projects to international sponsors such as the European Union or the Gates Foundation. Thanks to the GPR funding, the network has, by leveraging effect, already obtained more than 10 million euros of external funds. It is also part of an international dynamic, notably the African Union-European Union roadmap, which encourages these academic partnerships, adds Tanguy Bernard.

IPORA is not limited to research: training plays a central role in the sustainability of the network and the strengthening of academic collaborations between Africa and Europe. "We cannot conduct long-term research without training the next generations, emphasises Xavier Anglaret. The challenge is twofold: it is a question of both training these successive generations who will be our future partners and of maintaining a long-term network of researchers sharing the same vision of research and international partnerships." An ambitious programme is being put in place, with an increasing number of Master degree interns and specific support for doctoral students through grants and co-funding. In-depth reflection is being carried out on postgraduate training: how can a truly interdisciplinary education be built and what degree could validate it? Concrete initiatives have already been launched, such as summer schools and an interdisciplinary certificate shared by three Master degrees at the University of Bordeaux in economics, public health and political science. This programme, which brings students together for around 100 hours of interdisciplinary projects, is gradually evolving towards an international Master degree in partnership with the African universities of IPORA. The long-term ambition is to create interdisciplinary and international degrees.

After having made stops in Rabat and Abidjan, the general assembly of IPORA therefore took place this year in Bordeaux. Much more than a simple general assembly, the event was a key moment in the revitalisation of the network. "It's a real general assembly in the associative sense, with in-depth discussions, perspectives and a very strong internal dynamic," explains Xavier Anglaret.

The aim was also to open IPORA up to a wider audience, particularly in Bordeaux, where the initiative is still little known. The SAEAP conference was an opportunity for African and European researchers to meet and exchange ideas, as well as with students and institutional actors. It was an opportunity for IPORA to forge links with other academic networks, particularly the European University Alliance ENLIGHT.

Tanguy Bernard emphasises the importance of timing. "IPORA is now a solid tool that is proving its worth. Today, we have reached a sufficiently robust and established stage to start thinking about its expansion and inviting others to take it on." The presence of research funders, such as the Region or the European Commission, is testament to the crucial issues of funding in Africa, a central topic of the debates.

*“Strengthening Africa-Europe Academic Partnership” (SAEAP)