To our French partners, it’s incroyable. For most Wildcats, our newest voyage into trans-Atlantic science research partnerships is simply “incredible.” The University of Arizona has been chosen as the first formal overseas partner of the top European basic research group, called the French National Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS. In Paris, some scientists call it “the beast,” said UArizona professor Régis Ferrière during a break from teaching ecology and evolutionary biology at a partner site during an assignment in Paris’ Quartier Latin. 

Members of the France-Arizona Institute for Grand Challenges traveled to Washington, D.C., for a “Make Our Planet Great Again” seminar, October 17–18. Hosted by the French Embassy and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the goal of the two-day conference was to share successes of the MOPGA program and brainstorm future avenues for collaboration between the United States and France.

Last month, the University of Arizona and French heavyweight, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), met in Paris for the second 2022 conference of the France-Arizona (FA) Institute for Global Grand Challenges. Founded in March 2021, UArizona’s FA Institute is the first CNRS International Research Center.

CentrEau, the Quebec Water Management Research Center, is a Quebec cluster of water experts. It brings together researchers and graduate students from 12 different institutions. It is financed by the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT) as part of the Strategic Clusters program. CentrEau is hosting its 55rd webinar of the Hebd'Eau series entitled « The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Context of Global Change: The Example of the Western United States ».

Dr. Claude Grison, senior researcher at CNRS and PI of the project One person’s trash is another person’s treasure – optimizing metal-contaminated plant biomass towards the needs of Green Chemistry, received the European Inventor Award 2022 in the "Research" category.

David Enard, assistant professor in the University of Arizona Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department and Genetics – GIDP program and PI of the CNRS/UArizona Joint Call for Proposals project molecular and functional genomics ancient viral epidemics, received an Early Career Scholars Award from UArizona. 

Partners from UArizona and the French National Centre for Scientific Research will convene in Tuscon in February 2022 to celebrate accomplishments and renew commitment to the shared goals of the institute, which was established in April 2021.