IRP CHIRACHEM

IRP CHIRACHEM

Chirality

IRP CHIRACHEM

2022-2026
Contact

Prof. Alexander Kuhn – Université de Bordeaux – Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM) – Bordeaux INP, Université de Bordeaux and CNRS

Prof. Chularat Wattanakit – Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC)

Introduction

FROM ENANTIOSELECTIVE SENSING TO SEPARATION AND CHIRAL CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS

Based in Thailand, the main topic of this IRP is chirality. However, it is not only limited to electrocatalytic processes as previously, but enlarged to various chemical processes, ranging from enantioselective sensing to separation and chiral chemical synthesis.

These are extremely important issues in contemporary chemistry, because many molecules in our daily life are chiral and are often present in only one of two possible mirror-image forms

MAIN projects of research

  • Chirality

Academic partners

France
Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM – UMR 5255)
L’Institut supérieur de chimie de Rennes (ISCR – UMR CNRS 6226)

Thailand

Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC)

 

Franco-Thai_2
Chirachem-VISTEC2
Lancement Chirachem 2
Visite VISTEC
Lancement Chirachem
Chirachem - Thailande
Chirachem-Lab

IRN TranSocGen

IRN TranSocGen

International Research Network on Transdisciplinary Network on Society and Genetics

IRN TranSocGen
2021 – 2025
Dr Luc Berlivet
luc.berlivet(at)cnrs.fr

IRN TranSocGen
News

Introduction

Advances in genetics and genomics since the sequencing of the human genome, in the 2000s, have prompted many applications within the fields of genomic medicine, genetic genealogy, paleogenomics, forensic applications, GMOs, etc. while, at the same time, deeply renewing the theoretical analysis of evolutionary mechanisms. They gave rise to impassioned debates, oscillating between a fascination for advances presented as revolutionary and promising, and fears that sometimes referred to the dangers of the past (eugenics, racism etc.). Finally, they led to the development of numerous studies in human and social sciences, particularly in the Americas and some European countries. In France, this interest from the SHS has led to the establishment of an SHS Priority Thematic Network “Genetics and Genomic Medicine” which, since 2017, has been working to bring together researches in philosophy, sociology, anthropology and history on the recent developments in genetics and genomics.

The present international network aims to extend this effort to structure multidisciplinary SHS studies on genetics and genomics by drawing on the main poles of the French RTP (CERMES-3, SPHERE, IHPST) and by associating them with pivotal SHS research centres on epistemological and social issues in genetics/genomics in the United States (UCLA and NHGRI), Mexico (UNAM), Brazil (Fiocruz), England (King’s College London), Israel (Tel Aviv University) and South-East Asia (Nanyang Technical University, Singapore). The aim is to build on a series of pre-existing exchanges and circulation dynamics to construct a genuinely transnational and transdisciplinary perspective in SHS on the epistemological and social issues of genetics and genomics, which systematically mixes historical and epistemological, ethical, sociological and anthropological approaches. Our wish is also to articulate closely the contributions of these different disciplines and fields of research in order to overcome some limitations of current studies and to affirm four main principles:

1) the need to always take a historical perspective, while paying attention to the specificity of local contexts, in order to better understand the transformations induced by the rapid development of genomics since 1990-2000, without exaggerating their novelty and relevance.

2) the need to avoid focusing solely on human genomics, particularly medical genomics, and enlarge the analysis to the more general developments that have taken place in theoretical genetics (both at a conceptual and instrumental level), and in other fields of research, such as plant and animal genetics/genomics, or the study of genetic biodiversity, etc.

3) the rejection of a form of « westerncentrism » which leads to look at things from a North-American and, to a lesser extent, European viewpoint. this prompted us include in the analysis a wide variety of national contexts, so as to multiply the points of view, and favour an approach based on the diversity of situated contexts and the practicalities that affect the transnational circulation of knowledge;

4) the choice to include a wide range of disciplines and skills, so as to be able to analyse in detail scientific concepts, theories, and styles of thought (in dialogue with different categories of geneticists, biologists and doctors, while maintaining a critical distance from them), without ignoring the social, political and economic dimensions of genetic and genomic practices.

The network project builds on a series of pre-existing collaborations between researchers based in the different partner institutions (CNRS, Fiocruz, UCLA, Université de Paris, King’s College) and those who will be joining the network on an individual basis. It aims to structure and deepen these collaborations, while expanding our horizons by bringing Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern partners to the nework.

Main objectives

Its main objectives are:

– to create the conditions for long-lasting, intensive discussions between researchers from different disciplines and countries in order to build a common expertise around the epistemological and social issues of genetics and genomics.

– to develop a set of regular activities (seminars, workshops, sessions of international conferences) and undertake collaborative research leading to collective publications.

– to build on our collective, transdisciplinary and transnational expertise and start a critical and fruitful dialogue with geneticists (for example, within the framework of the France Genomics 2025 programme).

– to further institutionalize the emerging transnational research community on the social studies of genetics and genomics by preparing applications for grant funding (CAPES/COFECUB, UCLA/Mexico/CNRS cross-cutting agreements, Wellcome or ERC funding).

Missions and research themes

The IRN will be organised around 4 main research topics, although exchanges and cross-fertilization between the thematic groups will be systematically encouraged: members of the network will belong to two or more groups, and joint/transversal meetings will be held on a regular basis. Each group will be coordinated by members of French and foreign partner institutions.

Working Group 1. Genetics and theories of evolution: concepts, models, techniques (Resp.: P. Huneman, C-O. Doron, A. Teicher, E. Suarez).

The aims of the group will be: i) to explore the main issues in the history of theoretical population genetics since 1950 (the molecularization of the gene, neutral theory, coalescent theory, etc.) and their contributions to the development of current genomics (in terms of theory and modelling); ii) to shed light on a series of current epistemological discussions (the enhancement of stochastic processes and chance, issues relating to the processing and visualisation of massive data, etc.) and highlight their relevance to different fields such as genomic medicine, paleogenomics and plant genomics.

Working Group 2. Politics and collective identities (Resp: L. Berlivet, C-O. Doron, R. Wegner, A. Panofsky)

This group will focus on the issues genetics and genomics raise in terms of identity politics. It will explore the ways in which some collective categories (such as nation, race or ancestry) are captured and redefined through genetics and how genetics and genomics are used by individuals and groups to think about their identities and to subjectivate themselves. This group will articulate a strong historical perspective (especially by examining the history of the complex relationship between race and population genetics) and various empirical studies located in diverse contexts in terms of political issues and categories (avoiding to project a North American perspective on heterogenous situations). It will pay a strong attention to little-known uses of genomics (for example, uses by “dominant” groups in different countries). It also aims to always situate these sociopolitical issues in the context of the broader developments of genomics.

Working Group 3. Genomics: clinical ethics and social regulation (Resp: M. Gaille, G. Matta, S. Camporesi, I Löwy)

This area is dedicated to the transnational and transdisciplinary study of issues associated with the social regulation, ethical regulations especially, introduced to the clinical applications of genetics and genomics. The project will build on a “situation-based” approach, in order to explore the diversity of “local” (national or even sub-national) responses to genetic and genomic innovations.

The question of consent, in particular with regard to the legitimate uses of genetic/genomic “information” and “data”. A comparison will be made between the formal conditions imposed on the collection of consent and the professional standards in force in the different countries represented in IRN. The processes of production of medical genetic and genomic “data”, and the limitations introduced to their uses (in particular with regard to ownership, access to and sharing of data) will be analysed. Consent will be considered not only as an individual issue, but also as an object of socio-political mobilizations.

-the issue of communication between the patient/client and his/her physician on the one hand and (potentially at least) a range of third parties: parents, employers, insurers, etc. on the other hand. The probabilistic dimension of genetic risk -particularly when one goes beyond the framework of Mendelian genetics -has been further strengthened since the development of genomics, due to the difficulties of practitioners in grasping the concrete clinical significance of a considerable part of the knowledge relating to the mutations observed. Here again, we shall compare the attitudes of health professionals and the ethical and regulatory framework put in place in the various political and social contexts.

Working Group 4. Technical, economic, political and social infrastructures of genetic and genomic practices (L. Berlivet, H. Stevens, H. Landecker, V. Garcia-Deister)

The specific aim of this group is to further our understanding of contemporary or past genetic and genomic practices, by re-inserting them into the technical and institutional arrangements that underlie them. Building on the great diversity of individual and collective expertise available within in the IRN, we will analyse how the material culture of genetics and genomics is configured by a multitude of economic (intellectual property rights…), political (public policies) and social (patient associations, professional traditions…) mechanisms. The research will focus on a series of key genetic and genomic objects: tests, sequencing platforms, bio-banks, etc. considered through their configurations of use. The differences and similarities between the socio-technical arrangements on which lay the expansion of genetics and genomics in different parts of the world.

The main activities of the network over the 5 years will consist in the organization of i) 2 different kinds of webinars: one transversal, the others thematic (one per theme); ii) 2 to 3 scientific meetings per year, that will take place at the different partner institutions (thematic group meetings, joint/transversal meetings, sessions of international conferences…). These activities will translate into collective publications under the guise of special issues of scientific journals and two edited books (one in English, one in French). In addition, the IRN will further exchanges with geneticists, biologists and physicians. CNRS support will make it possible to finance a significant part of the travel costs related to these activities; the remaining part being financed by the other partner institutions.

institutions and laboratories involved

Coordinator: Luc Berlivet

France

Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences, Sante, Sante Mentale, Société (CERMES3) – UMR 8211, CNRS / INSERM/ UNIV DE PARIS
Sciences – Philosophie – Histoire (SPHERE) –  UMR 7219, CNRS / UNIV DE PARIS
Institut d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (IHPST) – UMR 8590, CNRS/UNIV PANTHEON-SORBONNE

Singapore

Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity (NIHST), Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Brazil

Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz

USA

Institute for Society and Genetics (ISG), UCLA

Mexico

Grupo de Estudos de la Ciencia y la Tecnologia (GECT), Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM

United Kingdom

Biotechnology and Research Cluster, Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, KCL

Israel

Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies& Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University

    IEA Green Voyage

    IEA Green Voyage

    French-Singaporean International Emerging Action in Biology

    IEA Green Voyage
    2021 – 2022

    Contact:
    Dr. Gwenael Piganeau: gwenael.piganeau(AT)obs-banyuls.fr;
    Adriana Lopes dos Santos (Asst Prof): adriana.lopes(AT)ntu.edu.sg

    IEA Green Voyage
    News

    Introduction

    The objective of the IEA “Green Voyage: Genome evolution in the green lineage” coordinated by Dr. Gwenael Piganeau (CNRS,  Biologie intégrative des organismes marins UMR7232) in collaboration with Assistant Professor Adriana Lopes (Asian School of Environment, Nanyang Technological University) is to  improve  the  understanding  of  the  evolution  of genome architectures, gene content, and metabolic capacities across unicellular green algae. The IEA “Green Voyage” is built on the genomic data to be generated through the CSP – JGI project New Green Genes (https://jgi.doe.gov/csp-2021-new-green-genes/), coordinated by Singapore partner. Through this collaboration, we aim to provide ground breaking insights into the genetics and biology of important but yet under-explored photosynthetic eukaryotic groups.

    Missions and research themes

    Genomics research on unicellular green algae (Chlorophyta) is far from having reached its full potential and there is currently a significant bias in sequenced representatives that hampers our understanding of their diversity as well as their role in the environment.  Despite thousands of described species (6878 catalogued in AlgaeBase) from 13 different lineages, only 89 Chlorophyta nuclear genomes are available in GenBank.  Of these, more than 80% are restricted to two groups of organisms that either serve as model systems (e.g. Chlamydomonas  reinhardtii) or are considered of economic importance (e.g. Chlorella and Nannochloris). We propose to fill the gap in the Chlorophyta tree by selecting genomes from under-represented unicellular green lineages

    MAIN projects of research

    Genome sequences are the written records of billions of years of evolutionary experiments. Each individual from a given species represents a distinct natural experiment with several possibilities and genetic solutions, from secondary metabolites or proteins to genetic elements controlling hundreds of genes and cellular processes. The organism targets in our project are from marine (pelagic, bathypelagic and benthic), freshwater, terrestrial and sea ice environments. Our key objective is to improve our understanding of the evolution of genome architectures, gene sequences, and metabolic capacities across the Chlorophyta.  The proposed organisms are also of interest for the manufacturing of biofuels, bioplastics and other bioproducts as well as for the environmental engineering of diverse microbiomes.

    institutions and laboratories involved

    France

    • Dr. Gwenaël Piganeau and Frédéric Sanchez, CNRS – Environmental and Evolutionary Genomics of Phytoplankton Group – BIOM UMR7232- Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur mer.
    • Dr. Ian Probert and Priscila Gourvril – Roscoff Culture Collection, Station Biologique de Roscoff (http://roscoff-culture-collection.org/)

    Singapore

    • Asst Prof Adriana Lopes dos Santos – Genomics and Evolution of Eukaryotes Lab – Asian School of Environment, NTU.

    IRP Food, Cultures and Health

    IRP Food, Cultures and Health

    French-Malaysian International Research Project in Social Sciences

    IRP Food, Cultures and Health

    2016
    Contact:
    Prof. Jean-Pierre Poulain
    Jean-Pierre.Poulain(at)taylors.edu.my

    PARTNERS

    ILLUSTRATION

    Figure 5 – Automatic Observation of the Dimensions of Social Interaction (Vincarelli et al., 2009a)

    INTRODUCTION

    The IRP “Food, Cultures and Health” is developed in partnership between the Centre d’Etude et Recherche Travail Organisation Pouvoir (CERTOP) UMR-CNRS 5044, Toulouse, France and the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), Taylor’s University, Malaysia. It addresses the transformation of the food system organisation and of the social representations and meanings associated to food during the process of modernization in Southeast Asia countries.

    After several years of educational and scientific cooperation with Taylor’s University, the establishment of this LIA marked another milestone of partnership and scientific research between the two universities. It extends and amplifies the work developed under the Chair of Food Studies of Taylor’s Toulouse University Centre (TTUC).

    MISSIONS AND RESEARCH THEMES

    This IRP project is an extension of the LIA Food, Cultures & Health, concluded between France and Malaysia in 2016. It associates the CNRS and the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche Travail Organisation Pouvoir (CERTOP), University Toulouse – Jean Jaurès (School of Tourism, Hospitality and Food Studies – ISTHIA) with Taylor’s University in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It is a continuation of Franco-Malaysian academic and scientific cooperation between these two partners. After more than 30 years of pedagogical and scientific collaborations, the creation of this LIA and its continuation with the IRP mark the rise of this partnership and the scientific research carried out there.

    The main mission of this IRP is to pool expertise, facilities and material resources to carry out a scientific project to study the links between diet and health from the perspective of Euro-Asian populations. Initially the two focus areas of research are: strengthening the network of “Food Barometers” in Asia and the establishment of “Experimental Restaurants” to study the eating behaviour, based on standardized protocols both in Toulouse, France and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    main projects of research

    Encompasses two main research programmes:

    1. “Dynamic and modernized dimensions of food patterns in developing multi-ethnic societies”. Relying on macro-sociological data collected by Asian Food Barometers to study the consequences of changing food practices on public health (obesity and non-communicable diseases) and food cultures patrimonialization.
    2. “Impact of socio-technological contexts on food practices “, a European-Asian mirrored study through the use of two experimental platforms.

    1. Asian Food Barometer

    The Food Barometers’ objective is to provide data on socio-cultural contexts of food and eating habits and their developments at a national scale. These elements are particularly useful for sectors of economy and public health. It will analyse combined effects of social factors, such as social status, education level, gender, generation, household size and urbanisation, and it also analyses ethno-cultural aspects of food and its consequences on population’s health.

    The Asian Food Barometer addresses three mains scientific topics:

    1. The theories of transition (demographic, epidemiological, nutritional, protein), their evolution and reorganization;
    2. The “compressed modernization” and its consequences on food habits, food cultures and health;
    3. The theories of risk and the way in which the empirical field of the food crises invites to reorganize it by taking better account of the anxieties.

    The Asian Food Barometer project started in Malaysia, with the launch of the first “Malaysian Food Barometer” in 2014. A second “Malaysian Food Barometer” was completed in 2018, it included in depth socio-cultural determinants and nutritional analysis. The first partnership on Food Barometers in Asia was with SEAMEO RECFON, Indonesia with work on the “Indonesian Food Barometer”.

    The Asian Food Barometer project is carried out in conjunction with several research programmes:

    • Flagship Research Programme Obesity & Health

    This programme addresses one of the most important challenges of the Asian societies, that is, the rise of non-communicable diseases that accompany the nutritional transition related to modernization of the population’s food habits. The diet-related health problems in Asia, in particular Malaysia is serious because of the very rapid speed of modernization in this part of the world (compacted modernity). This five years programme will focus on the socio- cultural determinants of “food and nutrition transition” in Asia and will make some concrete propositions to face the challenge and help reduce the economic burden related to rising non-communicable diseases.

    1.2. SCRIPT: Socio Cultural and Economic Research in Protein Transition in South East Asia: focus on Malaysia & Indonesia

    While the adoption of higher energy intakes and more energy-dense diets appears in the frame of the nutrition transition theory (Drewnowski, Popkin, 1997) to be a “universal” incomes-driven phenomenon, dietary shifts from plant to animal proteins (meat, fish or dairy) are much more dependent on culture, religion, and other country-specific variables. A multidisciplinary research team with expertise in Nutrition, Social Sciences and Public Health has conducted the proposed project.

    Study protocol was based on the established Malaysian Food Barometer (MFB) with modifications and adaptations to meet the objectives of the project. The MFB was specifically developed to study aspects of the nutrition transition in the rapidly developing and urbanized countries of Asia and South East Asia. Largely based on social sciences, the MFB provides valuable additional insight to classical nutritional or economic studies (Poulain et al. 2014).

    1.3. “Eating out in Asia”

    Based on more or less partial information and data coming from heterogeneous sources, one claims often that the level of eating out in Asia is higher than in Europe. And is probably higher also than in most countries of the world, including USA. But due to the lack of comparable data that is produced at a representative level and with the same methodology, it is not possible to document and to objectivise this phenomenon. The repartition of meals between home and outside the home is an important question, because it allows understanding the different contexts, in which the food and eating decisions are taken. The purpose of this research is to fulfil this lake of knowledge, by conducting a multinational survey on the repartition of meals and food intakes in 6 Asian Countries (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia) and France. This research will also study the socio-cultural determinants of eating out.

    The results will be useful in economics to understand the organization of the demand of food market. They will be useful for public health to base the recommendations on real life situations. For research in food studies, the findings are expected to contribute to the description of the food cultures through the place the form of socialization, the modality of socialization and of transmission from one generation to another. In addition, the international design of the survey is allowing the analysis of some of the dimensions of the nutrition transition in the rapidly developing and urbanizing countries of Asia and South East Asia. France was added to the project to allow future comparisons between Asian and South East Asian countries and a European country. The survey has been completed in March 2020 with data collected from countries (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and France), counting a global sample of 15,000 individuals.

     

     2. Impact of socio-technical contexts on food practices: Experimental platforms to study eating behaviours in context (OVALIE in France and experimental Restaurant in Malaysia)

    The “Experimental Platform” plans to explore in detail the influence of physical and social contexts on eating behaviour among individuals and small groups in different settings (home, hospital room, restaurants, etc.). A suitable space, equipped with automated tools (cameras, microphones) backed up with facial recognition software will be in place to capture real live situations. These observations will help to enrich the scope of eating behaviour based on new types of empirical data such as facial recognition of taste emotions and digital analysis of social interactions.

    On the Malaysian side, the Experimental Platform project is carried out in conjunction with several research programmes:

    • Flagship Research Programme Obesity & Health

    This programme addresses one of the most important challenges of the Asian societies, that is, the rise of non-communicable diseases that accompany the nutritional transition related to modernization of the population’s food habits. The diet-related health problems in Asia, in particular Malaysia is serious because of the very rapid speed of modernization in this part of the world (compacted modernity). This five years programme will focus on the socio- cultural determinants of “food and nutrition transition” in Asia and will make some concrete propositions to face the challenge and help reduce the economic burden related to rising non-communicable diseases.

    • Partnership Hubert Curien France-Malaysia Hibiscus (PHC Hibiscus) “The Socialization of eating practices in children with Prader-Willi syndrome”

    This project focuses on food socialization based on the case of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a complex neurodevelopmental disorder representing major development challenge for children that limits their socialization, especially around food. This project aims to identify the description and understanding of the food socialization of children with PWS in order to contribute to the support systems, improve management and care facilities; it also approaches the pathological study to understand typical situations. The research methodologies that will be used are expert interviews, ethnographic observations of children’s interactions with their families at home as well as observations in a controlled socio-behavioural lab setting. The findings may than be adapted to the public health education and management of food related behaviours within the framework of the prevention of pathologies such as obesity and type 2 diabetes that originate from eating.

    INSTITUTIONS AND LABORATORIES INVOLVED

    France

    • Coordination : Prof. Jean-Pierre Poulain, CERTOP UMR-CNRS 5044 – Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, Toulouse

    Malaysia

    • Prof. Ismail Mohamed Noor, CRiT, Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur

    Associated indonesian partner

    • SEAMEO RECFON

    IRP FOCOMAT

    IRP FOCOMAT

    French-Vietnamese International Research Project in New Composite Materials

    IRP (LIA) FOCOMAT
    2013
    Contact:
    Dr. Nadine Pébère
    Nadine.Pebere@ensiacet.fr

    Dr. Tran Dai Lam
    tdlam@itt.vast.vn

    IRP FOCOMAT
    News

    Introduction

    The IRP (LIA) FOCOMAT “Functional Composite Material” (started in 2013 and renewed in 2017) is managed by Dr. Nadine Pébère (CIRIMAT) in France and Dr. Tran Dai Lam (VAST) in Vietnam.

    Missions and research themes

    The project aims at developing new composites materials (bulk or thin films systems). The scientific program is divided in three axes:

    1. Development of greener organic coatings
    2. Electrodeposited biomimetic apatite coatings
    3. Polymer composites with reinforcing plant fibers

    1. Development of greener organic coatings

    Organic coatings are widely used to prevent corrosion of metallic structures because they are easy to apply and cost effective. Corrosion inhibitors are incorporated in organic coatings to provide active corrosion protection. In the past, chromates were the most commonly used inhibitive pigments. However, due to their high toxicity, many studies have been devoted to the development of more environmentally acceptable organic coatings. In this context, our project aims to incorporate non-toxic corrosion inhibitors in organic coatings via natural clays (montmorillonite – MMT or layered double hydroxides – LDH), acting as nano-reservoirs for green inhibitors. The complementary effects of MMT and LDH on the microstructure of the coatings are investigated to search for synergistic effects by using different inhibitors. The study of the inhibitor leaching from the clays and their healing action in the case of damaged coatings will be specifically considered.

    2. Biomimetic apatite coatings

    A proper design of a bone implant material is aimed to provide the necessary durability, functionality, and biological response for long-term use. In this context, metallic materials, among which stainless steels, are most commonly implemented for load bearing implants. Durability and functionality of the implant are governed not only by the mechanical properties of the bulk material but also by the biological response, i.e. osteointegration that depends mainly on the surface/chemical characteristics of the implantable device. The challenges for electrodeposited coatings are twofold: (i) to be able to co-dope the apatite coating and to control the release kinetics and (ii) to produce coatings in lattices structures made from additive manufacturing (3D approaches), that is becoming the most usual method to produce the implants.

     3. Polymer composites with reinforcing plant fibers

    The tailoring of polymer composites with long reinforcing plant fibers is a major issue of research in the domain of structural organic composite. The main advantage of such materials is weight saving. The other issue is to design recyclable materials. This explain that the choice must be restricted to linear polymers i.e. thermoplastics. Now, the difficult point is to be able to make the processing at a temperature that is sufficiently low for avoiding the degradation of the plant fiber. Finally, we focus on biosourced polymers. The reinforcing long fibers are bamboo fibers growing in North Vietnam: Dendrocalamus barbatus. The major interest of bamboo fiber is to possess the highest Young modulus among vegetal fibers. The first keys point is to define a treatment allowing the handling of the fiber during the processing of the composite. Moreover, it must allow a satisfactory interface with the polymeric matrix: the interfacial region is insuring the stress transfer from the matrix to the reinforcing fiber.

    Some important dates for the collaboration on the topic “Corrosion and protection” 

    November 1999: Do Son School “Corrosion protection”.

    1997-2004: FSP “Espoir” Project (financial support for PhD thesis and for equipment).

    2005-2012: Cooperation agreement VAST/CNRS “Corrosion and protection of materials”.

    2013-2020: LIA “FOCOMAT”.

    Organization of international Workshops on Corrosion and Protection of Materials in Hanoi: December 2012, October 2015, September 2018 and the next one planed in September 2020 (shifted in 2021, due to the Covid outbreak).

    institutions and laboratories involved

    France

    • Dr. Nadine Pébère, CIRIMAT Laboratory, Université de Toulouse

    Vietnam

    • Dr. Tran Dai Lam, Director of the Institute of Tropical Technology (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) in Hanoi.

    Participants to the Workshop CPM 2015, ITT, Hanoi

    Participants to the Workshop CPM 2018, ITT, Hanoi

    On November 29, 2019, Nadine Pébère received the Friendship Medal, awarded by the President of the Republic of Vietnam, Mr Nguyễn Phú Trọng, in recognition of her strong involvement in the collaboration between Vietnam and France for nearly 25 years.

    Assoc. Prof. Dr. TRAN Tuan Anh – vice president of VAST – and Nadine Pébère

    After the ceremony of the Friendship Medal.