ANR Chairs of Excellence: Overseas Springboard (Tremplin Outre-Mer)

Chair positions at universities in the French overseas departments and regions are available to high-level researchers around the world working in subjects relevant to priority topics for the territories (particularly environmental, social and health topics). 

The Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR – National Research Agency) was first established in 2005 and is governed by the French Ministère de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (MESR – Ministry of Higher Education and Research). It provides funding to public research organisations and universities, as well as to private companies, for both basic and applied research in all fields of science. Its goals include promoting creativity and openness as well as new ideas and partnerships, in particular between academia and industry. It also seeks to improve the competitiveness of French research in Europe and around the world.

ANR has launched a call to proposals to fund chairs of excellence in French overseas departments and regions and overseas communities (DROM-COM) for young researchers.

Thanks to their environmental, climate, health, societal and cultural specificities, their geographical position in key areas (the Caribbean, the Amazon, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans) and their scientific and diplomatic potential at the regional and international level, the DROM-COM are of particular strategic interest for French research. However, research establishments in these territories face persistent structural constraints, linked to an insufficient critical mass of research staff, who are also unevenly spread across the territories, a thematic dispersion of research forces affecting the mobilisation of scientific communities and difficulty in attracting profiles with international visibility. The objective of the programme is to render the DROM-COM more attractive for scientists and to provide a sustainable structure for their research ecosystems. The approach is based on strategic guidelines that seek to support the development of research and training within these territories. The programme is intended to act as a lever to attract high-level talent, strengthen local teams and increase the visibility of overseas sites, both in their regional basins and on an international scale. 

The call has four principal objectives:

• Attract high-level young researchers and enseignants-chercheurs/enseignantes-chercheuses (teacher-researchers), working in France or elsewhere, towards research establishments in the DROM-COM.
• Structure and strengthen local research ecosystems through ambitious scientific projects led by profiles capable of federating teams.
• Take part in integrating the DROM-COM in structured cooperation with countries in their regional oceanic basin.
• Strengthen the position of DROM-COM establishments in competitive European calls, particularly Horizon Europe.

The call is centred on priority scientific themes for the overseas territories. Thus, they may focus on the health of land and marine ecosystems (including coral reefs, lagoons and tropical areas) and the health of populations in the context of global, climate, environmental and societal changes. Of particular relevance is research relating to infectious and emerging diseases, metabolic diseases, environmental intoxication and interactions between the environment, exposure, lifestyles and human health, including exposome approaches. Projects may also analyse natural risks and their differentiated impact according to the territory, by including climate, environmental, health and socioeconomic factors specific to these territories, employing a perspective of prevention, adaptation and resilience. These themes align with the One Health approach. 

Candidates are encouraged to strengthen interactions between life sciences, environmental science, climate science and the humanities and social sciences, in order to better address the vulnerabilities of populations, social dynamics and inequalities. 

The call will also cover issues concerning energy and food sovereignty of the DROM-COM. Proposals may address the adaptation of energy models and food systems to local constraints or they may analyse socioeconomic models of the territories, at the scale of the territories and their regional basins.

The eligible host establishments are:

• Université des Antilles (Guadeloupe and Martinique)
• Université de Guyane (French Guyana)
• Université de La Réunion
• Université de la Polynésie française (French Polynesia)
• Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonia)
• Université de Mayotte

The young researchers’ profiles and research projects must align with the priority areas of the host establishments.

Recipients of the chairs are intended to be recruited on a permanent basis by the host establishments, during or at the end of the project period. In addition, recipients of the chairs are expected to submit a proposal to Horizon Europe by the end of the project period.