Governing bodies and committees

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is the governance body that sets the broad outlines of CIRAD's operations. It deliberates on a range of strategic, scientific, budgetary and financial topics, such as the establishment's budget and accounts, how it operates and its activity programme, research and procurement contracts to be signed, and general organizational, recruitment and staff pay conditions. It is chaired by CIRAD's CEO.

The Board of Trustees has three types of members: State representatives, distinguished external experts, and representatives elected by CIRAD's staff. There are five State representatives: one for each of CIRAD's two line ministries – the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation –, and one from each of the following: the Ministry for the Economy and Finance, the Ministry of French Overseas Regions, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This group is supplemented by six distinguished external experts recognized both in France and elsewhere for their expertise in research and cooperation for development, and six representatives elected by and from CIRAD's staff.

The Board of Trustees meets on average four times a year. Its eighteen members are elected or appointed for five years.

Chair: Élisabeth Claverie de Saint Martin

Members:

State representatives

• Guy Perrin - Alternate: Marjolaine Chiriaco
  Representing the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space
• Jean-Sébastien Conty - Alternate: Louise Burdloff
  Representing the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
• Currently being nominated - Alternate: Julien Tanneau 
  Representing the Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty 
• Benoît Bonaimé - Alternate: Cyril Kao
  Representing the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
• Oudi Serva - Alternate: Loïc Biwand
  Representing the Ministry of French Overseas Regions

Distinguished experts

• Thierry Blandinières
  Managing Director of the agricultural cooperative group In Vivo
• Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko
  African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture
• Philippe Mauguin
  President, Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (INRAE)
• Valérie Verdier
  Chairman of the Board and CEO, IRD
• Bertrand Walckenaer
  Deputy Director General, Agence française de développement (AFD)

Elected representatives

• Thomas Balenghien
  Staff representative
• Nathalie Cialdella
  Staff representative
• Françoise Gérard
  Staff representative
• François-Régis Goebel
  Staff representative
• Thibaud Martin
  Staff representative
• Laurence Ollivier
  Staff representative

Participants as of right, in an advisory capacity

• Daphné Prévost 
  Controller for Economy and Finance, Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation
• Anthony Farisano 
  Director General in charge of Resources and Organization, CIRAD
• Pierre Defaut
  Secretary, Works Council, CIRAD
• Yves Delmas
  Auditor

Secretary: Alexandrine Rey

Science Council

The Science Council assists CIRAD's President Managing Director. It is consulted about CIRAD's research and study programmes. It makes statements on their content and operating methods. It may make proposals concerning research strategy. It gives its opinion on the creation or dissolution of scientific departments. It is backed by the assessments of research units conducted by the Agence d'évaluation de la recherche et de l'enseignement supérieur. It produces an annual report that is submitted to the Board of Trustees. The responsibilities of the Science Council are set out in the current version of Decree no. 84-429 dated 5 June 1984 confirming the founding and structure of CIRAD.

The Science Council comprises:

• ten French and foreign scientific experts, including at least eight from outside CIRAD, appointed by the Minister of Research and the Minister for Cooperation and Development;
• five members elected by CIRAD's staff.

Science Council members have a three-year term of office, which may be renewed.

Chair: Catia Grisa, Tutor and researcher, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

Secretaries:  Céline Cardi and Bénédicte Favreau, CIRAD-DGDRS

Appointed members

• Anyangwe Florence Angaba-Fonteh
  Professor, Dschang University, Vice-Dean for Research and Cooperation, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Bamenda (Cameroon)
• Jean Christophe Avarre
  Scientific Director, Ecology and Biodiversity of Inland Ecosystems department (ECOBIO), IRD
• Fabrice Declerck
  Chief Science Officer, EAT Forum (since 2016) and Senior Scientist, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT-CGIAR (since 2012)
• Marijke D'Haese
  Head, Départment of Agricultural Economics, Faclty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University  (Belgium) and Professor of Rural Development Economics at the same faculty (since 2017)
• Olivier Gros
  University Professor of Biology of Organisms, University of the French Antilles
• Thong Le Quang
  Dean, Faculty of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
• Nathalie Munier-Jolain
  Deputy Director General of Science and Innovation, INRAE
• Sébastien Praud
  Global Lead of Breeding Technologies, Limagrain Vegetable Seeds (LVS), since November 2024
• Tahiana Ramananantoandro
  Head, Department of Forestry and Environment, École supérieure des sciences agronomiques (ESSA), University of Antananarivo, and Technical Manager, Green Economy, Bôndy (Madagascar)

Elected staff representatives

• Olivier Gibert - UMR AGAP
• Muriel Figuie - UMR MOISA
• Laurence Boutinot - UPR Forêts et Sociétés
• William’s Daré - UMR SENS
• Beatrice Rhino - UPR HortSys

The INRAE-CIRAD-IFREMER-IRD Ethics in Common Committee

The Committee on Ethics in Agricultural Research, set up by CIRAD and INRAE (ex-INRA) in October 2007, has a remit to discuss, advise, raise awareness and if necessary raise the alarm. It extended its activities to include IFREMER in April 2016, and IRD in October 2019. It examines ethical questions raised by research activities and the research process in the fields of food, agriculture, the sea, the environment and sustainable development, particularly those that concern the relationships between science and society.

As of 1 December 2020, the INRA-CIRAD-IFREMER-IRD Committee on Ethics in Agricultural Research has 12 members, appointed by joint decision by the Presidents of INRAE, CIRAD, IFREMER, and IRD.

Patrick du Jardin, President of the Committee

Professor and Head of Laboratory at the University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech Faculty. Member of the INRA-Cirad-(Ifremer) Ethics Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2016 and Vice-Chairman of the GMO Expert Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) from 2012 to 2015.

Agricultural engineer, PhD in agricultural sciences and biological engineering, plant physiology and nutrition specialist.

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Vice-President of the Committee

CEA senior scientist at Paris Saclay University's climate and environmental science laboratory. Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I - Physical Science Basis (2015-2023). Member of the French national climate change committee (2018-2024). Member of the French national ethics consultative committee. 

Graduate of Ecole Centrale Paris, PhD in energetics and physics of fluids.

Members