REPORT ON Cirad DELEGATION’S VISIT TO CETIC

On Friday, 29 August 2014 from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M., a delegation from Cirad was welcomed at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique (ENSP) . They came to visit the African Centre of Excellence on Information and Communication Technologies (CETIC) and to meet the officials of the Center, so as to discuss the opportunities for collaboration.

Cirad’s delegation was made up as follows: Daniel BARTHELEMY (Director of BIOS Dpt), Alain BILLAND (Director of B&SEF, RU rep. Director of ES Dpt), François COTE (Director, PERSYST Dpt), Christian CILAS (Director RU Bioagresseurs), Pierre COUTERON (Director UMR AMAP), Patrick JAGORET (Deputy Director UMR SYSTEM), Sylvie LEWICKI DHAINAUT (deputy Director. UMR AGAP), Sylvain DEPIGNY (Researcher, RU Banana and Pinapple System welcomed at CARBAP), Leïla BAGNY-BEILHE (Researcher Bioagresseurs UR welcomed al’IRAD), Vivien Rossi (Researcher B&SEF RU welcomed at the University of Yaoundé 1-UMMISCO) , Martijn TEN HOOPEN (Researcher Bioagresseurs RU welcomed al’IRAD).

Programme of the visit

The welcome speech was an opportunity for professor Gabriel NGUETSENG (Coordinator of mathematical modelling activities at CETIC) to make a general presentation of research policy at CETIC.

Then, Professor Maurice TCHUENTE (Director of IRD-UMI UMMISCO-Cameroon and CETIC’s Principal Investigator) made a general presentation on the scientific activities of CETIC that can lead to collaborations with CIRAD. After that, he gave the floor to young teachers and researchers for more targeted presentations

Finally, Professor Charles AWONO ONANA (Director of ENSP and Coordinator of CETIC) made a presentation on how CETIC functions.

These presentations enabled the three Directors of CIRAD to have a concrete vision of possible collaborations with some of their research units, and to make them known to the assembly. Following the scientific presentations, more practical issues on the modalities for the putting in place of these collaborations were discussed.

At the end of the discussions,   the delegation visited the premises. The ceremony was crowned by a refreshment, which facilitated informal exchanges.

Resolutions : Following the visit, many resolutions aiming at giving concrete expression to the collaboration between CETIC and CIRAD were made , notably :

–          The planning for a delegation from CETIC to visit CIRAD Montpellier in January 2015

–          The organisation of a CETIC-CIRAD joint seminar in March 2015 in Yaounde

–          The proposal of research projects to CETIC , involving researchers from CIRAD and partners from Central Africa , with the prospect of welcoming Dr. Vivien ROSSI (HDR holder), specialist in statistical modelling applied to ecology, within CETIC.