Research

The basic mission of IFP is research. The vocation of the Institute is to involve itself in South and South-East Asia.

Research Fields

• Indology: Indian Society, History and Culture: Sources and Resources
• Social Sciences: Contemporary Social Dynamics
• Ecology: Environment and Sustainable Development

Research Departments

• The Department of Indology (historical department) focuses its attention on the keys to classical India, namely, its religions, its literature, its languages (Sanskrit, Tamil,...) in order to better interpret and understand the foundations of modern India.

• The Department of Social Sciences promotes research on the major questions of society and on the relations between human societies and their environment: social management of water, urban development, demography and social mobility, finance and debt, impact of industrialisation on rural systems, diffusion of new technologies, traditional healthcare systems, health problems related to the spread of transmittable diseases,...

• The Department of Ecology centers its research on biodiversity and notably on the functioning of fragile ecosystems (forests, mangroves,...), by considering man as an important parameter in their evolution. It conducts research that aims to understand and evaluate the biological diversity of natural as well as anthropised ecosystems, with the objective to contribute to the establishment of schemes for conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. A significant space is given to research on palaeoenvironments on the basis of an important collection of pollens.

Scientific Orientations and Projects

As an institution with a multidisciplinary vocation, the Institute hosts in 2008, fully or in part, 19 research projects (8 of which are led by French and Indian researchers or teachers-cum-researchers belonging to other establishments) distributed according to 10 orientations :

• Indology :
    Indian analyses of Sanskrit language and literature
    History of religions
    Tamil studies

• Social Sciences :
    Health and societies
    Economy and societies
    Environment and societies

• Ecology :
    The Paleo-environments of South India
    Application of new information technologies for strengthening of Taxonomic expertise
    Biodiversity elements in the Western Ghats
    Usage of biodiversity and ecosystems modified by human activity