The French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) held a ceremony to mark 30 years of cooperation between IRD and Việt Nam on Friday in Hà Nội. Photo nhandan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has long held a special place in the development strategy of the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), with research collaboration between the two sides expanding steadily across multiple disciplines.

Speaking at a ceremony held in Hà Nội on Friday to mark 30 years of cooperation between IRD and Việt Nam, Sylvain Ouillon, IRD’s Chief Representative in Việt Nam, emphasised since 1995, when IRD first began its activities in Việt Nam, and especially since 2000, when IRD’s permanent office officially opened in Hà Nội, the partnership with Vietnamese institutions has been built on mutual trust, co-creation and a shared vision for the future.

Over the past three decades, Việt Nam has become a key pillar in IRD’s regional development strategy. The IRD office in Hà Nội currently manages 23 per cent of IRD’s total investment in Asia and hosts the second-largest number of researchers in the Asia-Pacific region, after New Caledonia.

The scope of research collaboration between IRD and its Vietnamese partners has continued to broaden, covering a wide range of fields including social sciences and humanities, soil science, nutrition, oceanography, complex system modeling and health, he said.

Under IRD’s new Asia strategy, Việt Nam continues to play a pioneering role through four International Joint Laboratories (LMI), including a laboratory on integrated modeling to support irrigation management; a laboratory dedicated to antimicrobial resistance research, which has expanded to include the One Health approach; a laboratory in partnership with the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and the University of Science and Technology of Hà Nội (USTH), focusing on water and matter transport and transformation in the Red River Delta; and a laboratory in collaboration with HCM City University of Technology, aimed at strengthening research capacity on the Sài Gòn River and the lower Mekong region.

Several flagship projects have highlighted the success of Franco–Vietnamese scientific cooperation in both research and practical application. Among them are the PLUME oceanographic campaign, which studies the transport and distribution of natural and artificial substances along the river–estuary–sea continuum; and STAR-FARM, a project aimed at enhancing the resilience of Vietnamese agriculture to droughts and floods.

IRD has also actively participated in projects under the Équipe France Fund (FEF), designed to bring scientific results closer to the public and policymakers. One of these, the FEF Fleuves project, is expected to feature two major exhibitions in Hà Nội and HCM City in 2026.

On this occasion, Sylvain Ouillon expressed his deep appreciation to the University of Science and Technology of Hà Nội (USTH), a strategic partner of IRD in both research and education, where French and Vietnamese scientists jointly supervise students, exchange expertise, and develop high-quality human resources.

This year’s celebration also marked the launch of the Planète IRD+ network, a global initiative connecting scientists, partners, and former collaborators of IRD in France and worldwide, including those in Việt Nam.

“Through Planète IRD+, we aim to celebrate the diversity and strength of the global scientific community, of which Việt Nam is an integral part, and to continue building a sustainable partnership for the future,” Ouillon said. — VNS